It may seem a bit limited, not to say odd, but a number of scientists devote their entire career to studying one specific food. It may be because of a family business that they wish to improve and perpetuate. Perhaps significant grants are available because that particular food is crucial to public health. It might be the intellectual attraction of a complex crop that requires knowledge of genetics, chemistry, economics, history, climate, and culture. Or perhaps it was just an accident: at the beginning of their lab career, they stumbled onto something that was so understudied that it helped accelerate their career in a way that no other crop could have.
Whatever the reason, I find it fascinating that these folks end up with unique titles that pinpoint their field of expertise, and the fact that those names are usually derived from Latin or Greek word parts is right up my alley.
The general terms for a food expert are bromatologist (Greek broma, food) and sitologist (Greek sitos, food). The -ologist suffix, as most people know, is a Greek combining form meaning a specialist. But it's the specific fields of study that I find fascinating, so let's look at some.
· Acorns: balanologist
· Almonds: amygdalogist
· Barley: crithologist
· Berries: baccatologist
· Cabbages: brassicologist
· Cashews: anacardologist
· Cheese: fromologist
· Chestnuts: castanologist
· Corn: spicologist
· Crustaceans: carcinologist
· Cucumbers: cucumologist
· Eggs: ovologist
· Figs: sycologist
· Fish: icthyologist
· Fruit: carpologist
· Grapes: botryologist
· Hickory nuts: cichorologist
· Kidney beans: phaseologist
· Peaches: persicologist
· Peanuts: arachologist
· Pears: piriologist
· Radishes: raphanologist
· Strawberries: fragarologist
· Truffles: hydnologist
· Turnips: napologist
· Vegetables: lachanologist
· Walnuts: juglandologist
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