# Commercial bone broth: is any of it real, or is it all made of LIES?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercial-bone-broth-is-any-of-it-real-or-is-it-all-made-of-lies/1016866>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** food-cooking\
**Created:** [April 10, 2025, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercial-bone-broth-is-any-of-it-real-or-is-it-all-made-of-lies/1016866 "2025-04-10T16:15:48Z")\
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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2025, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercial-bone-broth-is-any-of-it-real-or-is-it-all-made-of-lies/1016866/12 "2025-04-11T14:17:09Z")

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We have done the conversation about “stock” vs. “broth” a few times. IIRC the consensus was:

At one time the terms had definitely distinct meanings but at least in casual speech most folks now use them interchangeably. Real pro chefs probably preserve the distinction, but TV chefs don’t.

The funny thing to me is that under the strict traditional definitions, “stock” is made from bones and has collagen whereas “broth” never has bones nor collagen. So the term “bone broth” is an inherently self-contradictory misnomer. But a very popular one.

Here’s one very old thread directly on point:

> [@Broth and Stock the same thing? (soup)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broth-and-stock-the-same-thing-soup/469634):
>
> Recently my GF was sick so I bought her some chicken broth. Last night there was a commercial for chicken stock and offhandedly she comments that is what I got her. I said no, I got her broth, not stock. She said they are the same thing. I didn’t think so but TBH I could not think of a difference. They seem very similar. So, is there a difference between the two?

There have been passing mentions of the stock / broth controversy in many other cooking threads. But they’re hard to search for.

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