Foodies: A Definition

Everyone has foods they love and foods they hate. But that does not instantly make a person a foodie just because they have likes and dislikes. A foodie is someone who appreciates food, a person who notices the subtleties in flavor that separate the good food from the great delicacies. Being a foodie means a person has a genuine desire to learn everything he or she can about food. A foodie also realizes that the best food in the world is only mediocre if there is no one to share it with. A foodie recognizes that mediocre victuals can be the best food he or she has ever tasted if it is consumed in good company. Foodies do not spend all of their time eating food; they enjoy preparing it and watching others enjoy it just as much. Being a foodie is a unique experience, and one that many people do not truly understand. Some believe that a foodie has to be upper class since it is difficult for lower class citizens to maintain a significant level of disposable income. However, it is not necessary for a person to maintain an income level to become a foodie. I believe that it is possible for an average, working class American to be a full fledged foodie without terrible sacrifice, and that being a more affluent foodie does not make the foodie experience more enjoyable than that of a working class foodie.

In today’s technology rich environment, anyone who has a television can easily access the wealth of knowledge a foodie desires. If a foodie wants to know the background information of a certain type of food, then he or she can watch a show like Unwrapped that offers a plethora of knowledge regarding all types of food and how it is produced. There are also shows such as 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray and Barefoot Contessa that are not the typical sort of cooking shows. These shows are unique in that they focus on particular meals that a specific audience relates too instead of a particular type of food. For instance, 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray focuses on meals for working parents that do not always have the time to cook full meals, but have to cook pleasant tasting meals in a short period of time, hence the title. Since a working class foodie will not always have the time to devote to more intricate meals 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray and other shows of that nature provide working class foodies with easy to fix meals that provide a trip outside of the ordinary meals.

Television is not the only technological advancement that allows working class Americans to easily access “foodie culture;” the Internet provides much more information than television networks such as the Food Network and the information is often time more user friendly and easier to access, though it may not be presented in a terribly interesting manner. The Internet does offer the recipes and the information on the background of food that is given on television, but it also offers information that is not always readily given when a foodie only watches the food network. Yelp.com is the perfect example of the detailed information that is available on the Internet. It offers restaurant reviews that are from everyday people, not from professional critics. This unique twist to restaurant reviews presents insight that is from other working class Americans, and therefore is probably more useful to a working class foodie. The Internet is just one reason why it is possible for a working class foodie to experience “foodie culture.”

Television and the Internet allow working class foodies to gain information such as restaurant reviews and recipes but that is only part of the lore of “foodie culture.” Spending time around the dinner table with the members of a foodie’s family is just as important to “foodie culture” as knowing recipes and the proper method of peeling a potato. Just take the idea of knowing a good recipe as an example. When someone learns a new recipe it is not so he or she can guard the information like a national secret. The recipe is learned so that it can be used to create marvelous gastronomical experiences that are shared with friends, family, and significant others. The only limit that a foodie’s socioeconomic status can place on this time spent together is limiting the type of food the foodie can get. Just because a foodie cannot afford to have steak and lobster every night does not mean that the time he or she spends around a campfire roasting weenies with friends is any less enjoyable and rewarding. Recipes and restaurant reviews enrich the foodie experience, but the core of the foodie experience is spending time enjoying food with others, and no amount of money can deprive a foodie of that.

It is true that a working class foodie can indeed enjoy the essence of “foodie culture,” but when it comes to experiencing the finer elements of said culture a working class foodie is severely limited. For instance, a working class foodie most likely will not be able to afford some of the better, more refined ingredients that make good recipes great. It is true that the everyday foodie will most likely be able to afford those ingredients for a single special occasion; however the increased price of the ingredients will eventually put an insurmountable strain on the foodie’s budget. Also, some of the finer restaurants have their menu offerings priced at a level that does not allow a working class foodie the opportunity to visit these restaurants, and they are therefore missing out on an important part of foodie culture. A foodie’s socioeconomic status does not stop him or her from experiencing most of what “foodie culture” has to offer, but it is undeniable that socioeconomic status does significantly affect a foodie’s experience.

The best way to show how socioeconomic status places a restrictor plate on a foodie’s experience is for one to consider the following situation. A completely fictional foodie named Wallace loves Italian food, and so does his wife Wendy. From all the reviews Wallace has read on various websites, he has learned that the best way to experience everything Italian cuisine has to offer was to visit Italy itself. The only problem is that Wallace has a limited budget. Since Wallace is the epitome of a working class American he makes somewhere around 50,000 dollars a year, and that fifty thousand has to support Wendy and their two kids. A round trip plane ticket to Rome, Italy from Atlanta, Georgia costs around 800 dollars. When one factors in that Wendy also wishes to visit Italy, the grand total for airfare is around 1,600 dollars. Also, add one thousand dollars to that for a nice hotel room for a week and 500 more for food. This means the trip would cost around 3,100. Now it is true that this is only a small portion of Wallace’s overall budget and that he may very well be able to visit Italy once with his family. However, he would not be able to visit without making significant sacrifices in other financial areas. According to mybudget360.com the average family spends 34% of a paycheck on housing, 4% on apparel and services, 11% on pensions and insurance, 6% on healthcare, 18% on transportation, and which leaves 16% to be spent on anything Wallace or his family desires. Since Wallace is the epitome of the average, he fits perfectly into these percentages. This means he has exactly 8000 dollars of income that is to be spent on everything from presents for he and his family, to candy and costumes on Halloween, and least of all on any other foodie endeavors he may undertake. Wallace would be able to save his money over the years and eventually fund his foodie excursion to Italy, but he would not be able to continuously visit.

A foodie is not defined by the means in which he or she experiences the foodie, but the level to which the food is enjoyed. Being a foodie means that a person enjoys food. A foodie enjoys learning about food, cooking food, smelling food, tasting food, determine the best ingredients for food; a foodie is someone who simply enjoys food. Being a more affluent person almost always makes it easier for someone to have a hobby, but that does not mean that a more affluent person will enjoy a hobby more than an average, working class foodie. When a foodie happens to be a working class citizen it is true that a person’s options are limited to a certain extent. However, that limit is only to a certain extent. Just because a foodie is in the working class and cannot visit Italy or Thailand to get authentic foods does not mean that he or she is not truly a foodie, it simply means that a working class foodies experience will be different than that of an upper class foodie.



The Squeeze on the Middle Class. Lauren Barack. 10/24/09. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/HomeMortgageSavings/MiddleClassConundrumDoYouFitIn.aspx

The Disappearing Middle Class Dream. Posted by my budget 360. 10/24/09. http://www.mybudget360.com/the-disappearing-middle-class-dream-how-the-average-american-is-coping-with-the-recession-savings-banking-housing-and-investing-over-50-million-households-living-on-52000-or-less-a-year/