Picky Grouchy Non-Cook FAQs and not so FAQs
WHAT DO NON-COOKS THINK OF FOODIES?
WHAT DO NON-COOKS THINK OF FOODIES?
Different non-cooks think different things about different foodies. Some non-cooks are grouchy about foodies. Some non-cooks wish to be ignorant of foodies. Some non-cooks happily co-exist with foodies or a particular foodie, and some seek out the company of foodies for obvious reasons. Some non-cooks actually are foodies, only they're the kind of foodies who get instead of prepare their food.
There is no rule or even trend when it comes to non-cooks and our feelings about people who are foodies. However, I think it is totally safe to say that there is, or should be, a universal hesitance around the term foodie. Like the terms fanny-pack and panties, there is for some reason something off putting about the term foodie. Everybody feels that way about a word or two or three, and I feel that way about the word foodie. It makes me think of a vaguely distasteful smell, or a taste in the mouth of someone you wouldn't want to kiss. That is icky. In writing this answer to the question What do non-cooks think of foodies? I have had to say foodie lots of times. I thought maybe heavy use would de-mystify and thus de-ickify the term. It has not. Just like I don't mind the terms belt-purse (actually, that one is borderline) and undies (completely fine), to me the terms gourmand and gourmet are perfectly ok. Although on second thought, those Gs might lend themselves to a sardonic tone if you lean on them too hard, and that might hurt the feelings of the gourmand or gourmet being discussed. How about epicure? Maybe that's too old fashioned. What about something more conversational and contemporary, like food person? No caps or anything. I think that's pretty good: descriptive and non judgmental, like being a math person or a mountains person. As a non-cook, I am sympathetic to the search for a good, solid working term, and aware of how delicate the matter can be, with many factors to consider. On the other hand it is possible that the foodies are more concerned with what they are eating and where it comes from and all of those things than what they are called and that is legitimate, too. |