Blogpost 3: Foodie Reaction with Money Catalyst

Foodies seem to be wealthy because famous foodies on the television are always looking or eating splendid dishes. These shows create an illusion that foodies are ridiculously rich and can spend a lot of money on gourmet food. In my view, becoming a foodie requires three important ingredients: talent, incentive, and attitude. However economic condition is neither sufficient nor necessary. Most likely, money is just a catalyst. Here is the chemical equation of foodie:

Talent + Incentive + Attitude ------> Foodie (Catalyst: Money)

The first important element in equation is talent. In order to become a excellent foodie, strong chemical senses of smell and taste are required. These senses, which combine to produce specific experiences with food, described as flavor, are the keys for people to judge the diverse flavors of different dishes. Gourmets are supposed to have more olfactory receptors and taste buds, so their analysis of food should be more accurate than that of normal people. From scientific research, only 25% of people are supertasters, who have a certain talent to become foodies. For these people, they have more taste buds than others, and they experience more vivid and varied flavors of dishes, such as extreme bitterness of certain dark green vegetables. For the remaining 75% of people, two-thirds report a mild bitter taste of dark green vegetables. The last 25% of people who claim no bitter taste are nontasters (Schacter). As the result, not everyone has abilities to differentiate among the flavors and ingredients of dishes. Since the taste receptors are based on their genetics, individuals cannot acquire it through the environment.

However, not all supertasters can become gourmets. Because they have more bud receptors experience more intense tastes of food, they are more likely to object to certain food (Schacter). For example, if supertasters have eaten some bitter dark green vegetable, they may avoid eating it again. Yet, foodies’ job is to judge numerous food cuisines, so they are supposed to taste dishes made with dark green vegetables too. Once someone loses interest in some specific food, he or she will probably not be qualified as a comprehensive foodie.

For a successful foodie, the second key requirement is to have incentive to try all kinds of food. The reason is that the more food people eat, the more likely they will remember the experiences of different tastes. Hence, the more different tastes people have experienced, the more detailed and comprehensive comments of dishes they can make. In order to have comprehensive food experience, individuals should have contact with various food from different cultures. However, in some cultures, one does not have diverse food. For instance, in China, one rarely sees Mexican food such as burrito. Most Chinese do not even know what Mexican food is. Because they are unfamiliar with the Mexican food, many of them do not want to try food from Mexico, especially the native ingredients. Yet, a foodie should have willingness to eat different food from different culture. For example, Ruth Reichl, a famous food reviewer in America, writes more Asian food reviews, so her taste buds are definitely not limited by her culture. In contrast, her close friend, Claudia does not prefer to eat raw fish in the Japanese restaurant (Reichl). Someone might argue that Ruth tried all different kinds of food because she was a New York Times food reviewer. Her job is to try different dishes. However, what really makes her a foodie is her strong interest in food. Even if she quit the New York Times, she is still a foodie with the incentive to try different food.

If people have strong incentive to find good dishes, regardless of how broke they are, they can still find gourmet food. Wealthy people could certainly use money to buy excellent food; however, most excellent food is not expensive. For example, in old China, emperors were certainly the richest people in China. However, in the list of the top hundred famous Chinese dishes issued by China Cuisine Association, only ten dishes originated in the Imperial Palace (CCA). The remaining 90% of dishes were created by middle class or even farmers. In fact, the chefs in the Imperial Palace were also selected from middle class. In general, if a person is interested in food, he can always find what he want everywhere. Moreover, numerous ingredients and cooking skills are still unknown in public. They are priceless. Only real foodies who have true interest will discover, try , and enlighten these ingredients and cooking skills.

Moreover, discovering and analyzing food are not only foodies’ incentives, but also a lasting attitude in life. This attitude is the third element of foodies. They are very likely to spend two hours a day on buying, cooking, and tasting food. When foodies eat, they are very relaxed and concentrate deeply on the dishes. They are concerned more about the what they eat than socioeconomic status. All of these behaviors become the specific attitudes towards food. Like politicians, who like to speak in public, and scientists, who like to do research, foodies like to spend time to eat.

In all, to become a foodie seems only relate to talent, incentive, and attitude. Wealth is not a necessary qualification for identifying or becoming a foodie. Yet, why do people always think money can create a foodie? The reason is that people who think wealth creates foodies are misled by the media. In the Hollywood movies, billionaires always dress in expensive tuxedos and go to elegant restaurants with a charming ladies. In the politic government, famous politicians are always served gourmet food by several waiters at banquets. On the TV show “Iron Chef," the stadium for cooking is imaginative with sparkling lights, containing countless varied ingredients (Iron Chef). The media creates an illusion that rich people know what to eat and how to eat. However, money is not a sufficient qualification to create a foodie either.

First, money cannot turn people into supertasters, because the talent of supertasters is built genetically. Then, money has no power to change a person’s incentive to try different food. Compared to food price in America, Chinese food is much cheaper. Nevertheless, most American visitors will never try traditional Chinese food such as pig ears when they come to China, even if it costs less than a dollar. Lastly, money cannot change foodies’ attitude towards food. As mentioned before, foodies’ attitude towards food will become a motto of life after some time. It symbolizes a dream of foodies. Archiving dream may make people rich, but money does not change people’s dreams. A billionaire can spend millions of dollars on building the best restaurant in the world and hiring the best chef. Nevertheless, Billionaires will probably gobble up splendid meals created by a chef, because they often do not have enough time to sit down and enjoy them, or analyze their flavors. The only thing billionaires consider is how to earn more money and open more restaurants because wealth is their real dream.

Ironically, although many rich people enjoy a high quality of life, they are not foodies at all. They do not care what they eat but focus instead on doing business and earning money. Sometimes they are too busy to finish a meal. For them, going to the deluxe restaurants and eating exotic cuisines are most likely the ways they show socioeconomic status and do business. Money does not change their attitude towards food.

Although wealth is neither necessary nor sufficient condition to become a foodie, it can speed up the process to become a foodie. If people have money, they can easily afford to eat different food in expensive restaurant in different places. For example, a wealthy person can fly to Boston to taste the New England clam chowder at a fancy restaurant. Clearly, taking a plane not only saves more time, but also provides more authentic food. Although spending money to buy modern cooking equipment will not create incentive to cook, it will accelerate the process of cooking. In my family, my mother is the only person who cooks. I remembered I was curious about a new juice extractor, so I asked mother to buy one. Because of this equipment, my mother became a professional juice creator. (However I used it less than ten times. Regardless of modern cooking equipment in my home, neither my father nor I am interested in cooking. I guess we just do not have the genes to become a foodie.)

Different from normal billionaires, foodies among billionaires will create a totally different story for themselves with money. They will probably invite famous cooks and work with them to develop creative cuisines. They might even build a cooking research institute to discover or create more food. Money will definitely speed up them to move toward goals related to food.

Foodies are a group of people who have certain food-related talents, interests, and altitudes. Although money is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for these features, it could speed up the process to a dream. More accurately, it is the catalyst to reaching the goal of foodies. That is, money does not react with ingredients but boosts the whole reaction.

Work Cited
Schacter, L. Daniel, Gilbert, T. Daniel, Wegner, M. Daniel. Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers, 2009. Print
Reichl, Ruth. Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.
"Iron Chef." FujiTV. Japan. 10 Oct. 1993. Television.