A foodie is defined as someone who shows a particular interest in food. By this definition everyone should be able to become a foodie. But even though every person with functioning taste buds has the ability to appreciate food, not everyone possesses the means by which to appreciate all foods. It requires a large amount of time, money, and determination to become exposed to all kinds of cooking styles and types of foods, and to be recognized by the foodie community as an accomplished foodie. Therefore, everyone can become a foodie, but not everyone can become a greatly accomplished foodie.
It is easy to become a foodie. All you have to do is harbor a particular interest in food. Everyone in the world has that ability, just as everyone has taste buds. Having an interest in something takes little to no effort. However, being a gourmet, or appreciating food, can be much more difficult. To appreciate any kind of food, one must experience it, either through cooking or eating. An accomplished foodie is someone who has experienced and appreciated several kinds of food.
Socioeconomic status is arguably the largest factor in separating an ordinary foodie from an accomplished foodie. Money is the means by which to obtain goods and services. Considering food is a good, and in some cases, a service, it costs money to obtain. It is plain and simple. If you do not have the required funds to eat all types of food, then you do not have the means to fully appreciate them.
Moreover, a large amount of time is required for one to appreciate so many different types of food. This is why there exist entire careers based around becoming an accomplished foodie. The only people who can become greatly accomplished foodies without requiring large sums of money are those who have built their careers around food. For example, chefs do not necessarily need to be wealthy in order to appreciate food. They have proved their interest in food and show their appreciation in their cooking. Chefs do not have to pay for their ingredients. All they need is their talent. However, honing their cooking skills requires time.
Another example is Ruth Reichl. She is a food critic, so she receives payment for eating multiple different types of cuisine and evaluating them. She shows her appreciation towards food by eating and analyzing it. She even goes so far as to determine whether or not the dish has been prepared correctly. She also takes note of the different tastes that exist in every little ingredient. Overall, she does have to pay for the food, but she receives payment to do it (Ruth).
It has been argued that because information is becoming more and more accessible to the public, it is also becoming more possible for an ordinary person to become an accomplished foodie. One of the most prominent examples is Rachael Ray’s show, “30 minute meals.” In this television program, Rachael Ray instructs and shows the viewers how to prepare several types of dishes within a 30 minute time frame. Television shows, magazines, and books are all new ways that information about food in general is becoming more available to the public, giving the general public the means by which to satisfy their interest in food (“30 Minute Meals”).
However, even with all this available instruction to becoming an accomplished foodie, there still exists the original issue of time and money. No matter how much information one receives, they still need the proper ingredients to cook food, or the money required to eat said food. In the case of cooking, obtaining the necessary ingredients will require either the time to create them from scratch, or the money to purchase them. This problem is extremely substantial in the households of the working class. Most of the television shows directed at making meals quickly involve several store-bought ingredients. This is because the working class simply does not have the time to create the ingredients from scratch. So if one does not have the time, one must have the money.
For example, in one episode on the television show called “The French Chef,” Julia Child teaches viewers how to cook lobster in three different ways (“The French Chef”). As accessible as this program is to the general public, there is still the obstacle of time and money. If one was to attempt to cook lobster the same way Julia Child did on television, one would have to get a lobster. Now one must make a choice: either buy a lobster for a large sum of money depending on how big it is, or spend a gigantic amount of time attempting to catch a lobster by oneself.
If this scenario involved a single working mother trying to become an accomplished foodie, this would quickly turn into a particularly difficult dilemma to overcome. She cannot choose to buy a lobster, because she simply cannot afford lobster. She cannot choose to catch a lobster, because she does not have the time nor the necessary skill or equipment to go lobster fishing. Due to this state of affairs, she cannot fully appreciate lobster cuisine.
In addition, for one to appreciate meals native to foreign cultures, a sizeable amount of traveling is necessary. This means taking time off one’s job, and possessing enough funds to travel and eat. Even if the cuisine is available in America, not all cuisines of every culture are located in one city. Consequently, one without a large amount of savings or income would not be able to enjoy cuisines abroad. Because of this mandatory supply of income, it would not be possible for a working class individual to fully experience and appreciate cuisines from abroad.
Foodie culture has shown that for one to be taken seriously as a foodie, they must have had experience either with cooking, or reviewing food and restaurants. If you look at yelp.com you can look up many different restaurants and find a plethora of reviews written by anyone who wants to write one. Nonetheless, you will notice that no one perceives these reviewers as credible sources. When you read a review in the New York Times or the Atlantic you get the sense that the authors of these written or typed works are credible sources who know what they are talking about. They give off the impression that they can appreciate food more than the average person can. Restaurants even go so far as to base their entire reputation on the reviews they receive from these particular foodies.
For instance, Sam Sifton, who works for the New York Times dining section, is taken very seriously in his work. In his article entitled, “Now I Wanna Serve Some Sausage,” Sam reviews a sausage joint. Despite his reputation of being a respected food critic, he uses very casual and informal language in his review. And even though he speaks with such an informal tone, he is taken extraordinarily seriously by the foodie community. When he gave the sausage joint a 2 star rating, it was from that point on, known as a 2 star restaurant (Sifton, “Sausage”).
Foodie culture has also shown an increased respect for chefs, and rightly so. After all, the chefs are the ones who prepare the food in the first place. Every taste that one experiences is thanks to the chef. So who better to understand a creation than the creator? Chefs obviously show more interest in food than anyone else, because their entire career revolves around preparing food.
The Japanese television series “Iron Chef” demonstrated just to what degree chefs were respected. The scene would open up by raising the Iron Chefs up on pedestals, making them appear almost God-like. Even the name “Iron Chef” sounds intimidating and powerful. Whenever a challenger would face an Iron Chef, a narrator would elaborate on the challenging chef’s back story to imply to viewers that he was in fact worth of challenging an Iron Chef (“Iron Chef”).
But if anyone can appreciate food, why are these authors for big name organizations and chefs for high class restaurants taken more seriously than the average citizen? It is because they have experience. It is their job. They spend the majority of their time studying, handling, and working with food. They held the determination to become adept at appreciating food in their own way. They practiced and trained for it. So naturally, people would notice that and trust that if someone spends so much time with food, they ought to have the ability to appreciate food better than anyone else.
Therefore, although anyone can become a foodie, socioeconomic status plays a huge role in becoming a largely accomplished foodie. It requires large sums of money for one to sample enough food and to gain enough experience to be recognized as a foodie within foodie culture. The only exceptions to this statement are those who have enough determination to center their careers on food. If this were not true, they would not be so specifically recognized in the foodie community as experts. Some even go so far as to only label food critics and chefs as the only real foodies. After all, who can appreciate food better than them?
Works Cited
Child, Julia, host. “Cooking Lobsters.” The French Chef. WBGH. 11 Feb. 1963. Print. Transcript.
Iron Chef. FujiTV. 10 Oct. 1993. Television.
Ray, Rachael, host. 30 Minute Meals. Food Network. 15 Apr. 2001. Television.
Reichl, Ruth. Garlic and Sapphires. New York: The Penguin Press, 2005. Print.
Sifton, Sam. “Now I Wanna Serve Some Sausage.” New York Times. N.p., 23 Oct. 2009. Web. 23 Oct. 2009.
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