This paper analyses language use and language reflection in 19th-century German culinary discourse from a cultural linguistic perspective. Based on a corpus of cookbooks on exquisite cuisine and gastrosophical writings, it shows how the use of and explicit reflection on culinary vocabulary contributed to shaping the culinary arts as a cultural field and how this changed over time. Particularly regarding the role of French expressions in the German context, significant differences emerge in how they were valued – ranging from practical considerations of comprehensibility, through its appreciation as cultural capital, to outright disapproval on grounds of nationalist linguistic purism. By negotiating what constitutes adequate language use in the culinary field within the context of shifting value systems, culinary discourse proves to be culturally constructive.