re: How pretentious is the word "foodie"?

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Just out of curiosity where are they from ?

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Had a native tell me, "I eat to live, I don't live to eat."

His go to meal is chicken cooked in a crock pot. No seasoning, no salt, no pepper.

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Sounds like fun

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Every day a holiday, every meal a feast.

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know quite a few people who eat for sustenance and don't really care about the quality of food that they are eating.


Just out of curiosity where are they from ?

I don't know many folks from South LA that don't like food

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They live and are from the Acadiana area actually, but the family I'm thinking of have lived in Shreveport, Las Vegas, Arkansas, and California before moving back to Louisiana. One in particular would go months almost exclusively eating grilled fish or chicken. He could give zero fricks about spending money on food, he basically tries to eat as cheap as possible because he looks at it as an energy source. His parents are the same way.

I stay with him sometimes and usually convince him that we should grill outside on his patio or something. It's not that he doesn't like good food, it's that he doesn't feel like it's worth it to take the time or spend the money to have a good meal. He'd much rather spend 15 minutes browning some ground meat and tossing in a jar of tomato sauce to eat spaghetti, than to take the time to make a good red sauce; the difference in quality doesn't matter to him.

I don't judge him for it, but I don't "get it" either; it's a "whatever floats your boat" kinda thing to me.

I think most people who are on this board with regularity are foodies to a degree.

I personally hate the term and generally think of a "foodie" as pretentious jackass. Not saying that is the case. It's just my initial reaction.

I'm intrigued by people who are so amazed that everyone doesn't look at food the same way they do, even using words like "sad".

Everyone is different. The same people who eat for sustenance could be amazed by the things some of you don't like to do, but I doubt they spend as much time thinking about foodies as some foodies think about them.

And that's where the negative connotation of the word comes in.

"Enjoy your shitty [beer, meal, etc.]"

Hence my earlier point, foodie is mainstream. Not being a "foodie" is the aberrant behavior.

The thing I hate about foodie people is that they think bringing up negative things about the dish/service/whatever shows how elevated they are. shite, I'm paying $100 for dinner I don't want hear you pontificate about the pepper flavor in the greens not agreeing with other seasonings. Just shut up and let me enjoy my meal. It's like they feel like an undercover critic and we all need to know how this place could be better. Makes me want to murdalize them.

Sounds like you need new dining companions. Thats an awfully petty grievance for a "foodie" to focus on.

I think foodie is fine for people to use.. It's actually non-pretentious given the alternative, "connoisseur."

It just means you enjoy food, you like cooking, learning and sharing information about the art of dining. It's in no way pretentious.

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I made up the specific complaint, I was trying to make the point that self identified foodies always seem to be the first ones to point out the negatives about the experience. Like if everyone had razor sharp senses like theirs we'd all see the deficiency. Foodie = amateur critic that no one wants to hear from

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I can definitely see this. I have a couple friends who complain about every meal that they eat. Either something wasn't cooked the way they wanted or if nothing was wrong with the food they'll complain that it was "pricey". It's really annoying, it feels like they go out of their way to not enjoy a meal.