The Associated Press Stylebook announced this week its updates for 2014, which include adding a number of new food terms, such as aioli, Buffalo wings, caipirinha, demi-glace, kamut, mixologist, vegan and vegetarian.
You'd have thought vegetarian would have achieved mainstream acceptance before now, but in fact it wasn't until this week that AP added the entries on vegan and vegetarian. While the AP Stylebook determines what many news organizations use in their reporting, it often can seem behind the times. Along with finally acknowledging vegan, it also added entries on selfie and Snapchat--though it continues to insist on capitalizing Internet.
Last year, the AP Stylebook added entries on Grand Marnier, upside-down cake and madeleine.
The most recent changes were announced at the American Copy Editors Society conference during the Ask the AP Stylebook Editors session. Reportedly, some of the additions and changes (emoji!) were met with audible gasps. Most notably, people are up in arms over permission to now use "over" (instead of just "more than") in reference to a numerical value.
While the AP Stylebook updates each year, it was in 2011 that AP added a specific food section to its stylebook in recognition of the growing importance that food is playing in the media. That section consolidated existing food and wine terms, as well as added new entries. The food section also includes an official recipe section and answers style questions about the kitchen. Some of the explanations and definitions at times can be entertaining: "locavore -- The preferred term for a person who strives to eat locally produced foods."