The Weltchek Weekly

I got an email from the restaurant down the street offering me elevated comfort food in this time of crisis. I know, they were trying to make me feel better: If I order from them, I’ll feel as though I’m dining out and not standing at the kitchen counter in my loungewear for the umpteenth night in a row. But my first reaction was to laugh. How can food be elevated? This is a perfect example of using a big word to make something sound more than it is—to unintended effect.

When I asked a friend for her interpretation of elevated comfort food, she responded, without missing a beat, “more expensive.”

Not, I dare say, the restaurant’s intent.