Who's a Foodie?

Monday night I went to Slow Food with some coworkers as usual, and we met a guy there that I know from early music circles. He was talking about the food and how they made it, and how he had made something similar at home, and one of my coworkers said, “You’re a real foodie.” He denied this characterization of himself, and I wondered why. What makes a foodie, after all, if not interest in food? Of course, foodies tend to be interested in more gourmet foods, whereas lots of people are interested in food but would just as happily eat a box of macaroni and cheese. This guy was saying how he took a box of macaroni and cheese and then made it fancy with all kinds of additions, I think radicchio was mentioned and who but a true foodie would add that to something? I always think of foodies as being the food equivalent of beer snobs, you know – people like me. I love microbrews but don’t drink the big name flavorless stuff. So maybe this guy objected to being classified as a foodie because he thought it implied snobbery, but since he also has rarified tastes in music, he should just embrace his inner snob. What’s wrong with preferring real food to overly processed stuff? Nothing! We should all be foodies.

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