Rustic used to refer to plain and simple. It referred to something that was made for function rather than for looks.
Not any more.
I am seeing food being referred to as rustic that is not plain and simple. Instead of plain and simple it seems to refer to items whereby the maker is too lazy, too much in a hurry, or too incompetent to make the food look good or be a finished dish. I remember a conversation in a cooking show with Julia Child and a home cook who was making a lattice top on a pie and Julia mentioning that the lattice need not be perfect as it could be rustic. The home cook rather tartly remarked that even home cooks knew how to cut even strips of pie dough. Rustic, my eye.
I see goods that are referred to as rustic that are not plain and simple. Instead they refer to items that are made to made to look like it is old and worn. Often a great deal of effort is done to make it look beat up and tired.
I guess I could call myself a rustic woodworker as I am not very good. I know that I was not a rustic programmer because my programs worked right; in fact, if I have had a rustic programmer, he or she would be sent down the road.
So, instead of plain and simple, I am seeing rustic meaning lazy or pretentious. How times have changed.
