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The war against foodies has begun. Or, more accurately, it has gone public in a major forum. The Oregonian's "Non-Foodies Food Guide" is purportedly a listing of restaurants for average eaters. What it really is, however, is a concentrated assault on anyone who likes to think and talk about where they eat. If you don't like Applebee's or TacoTime, guess what: You've now been tarred with the "foodie" brush, the author's (well-executed) attempt to paint discriminating eaters as a bunch of closed-minded snobs.
Here's the story's opening: "Call them gourmands, connoisseurs, picky eaters, or just plain old snobs. Foodies blog, write and chat about pet restaurants, trends and chefs. They leave little room on their plates or in their hearts for fast food, family dining and the untrendy. And they can be pretty mean to some places we love."
"Snobs." "Pet." "Pretty mean." The emotional hot buttons pop right up—this isn't about celebrating overlooked food, it's a war against a class of people the writer doesn't like.Undiscussed by this anti-foodie jihad:
1. Most serious foodies hate the word foodie. It's the food equivalent of the word blogger: a diminutive meant to marginalize and laugh off people you don't like and/or agree with. Foodie sounds insubstantial and silly, so it's a great choice for the writer's purposes—celebrating the Old Spaghetti Factory.
2. Real food-lovers don't hate everything big or everything chain. They hate lousy food and lousy value. Pitting effete $15 plates of microgreens and quail's eggs against a big ol' hearty steak is a false conflict. Sometimes that steak tastes great and is a swell value, and sometimes those quail's eggs are straight-up nasty, and a real gourmet is perfectly comfortable saying so. As a serious eater, yes, I've got strong feelings on cheese made seasonally from pasture-grazed milk and about craft beers made either true to style or in exciting new formulations. But I can also tell you why I eat at Taco Bell, and all about my favorite brand of instant oatmeal. I'm OK with that. Any passionate eater has a similar range.
3. There's nothing "foodie" or exclusive about recognizing that a lot of so-called family dining and fast food is just garbage. It's an objective fact. If your diet consists principally of an industrially processed pile of affordable carbs, butter, sugar, and meats, guess what: You've got a lot of doctor's visits in your future. There's nothing "foodie" about rejecting 1,800-calorie entrées that are mostly fat and salt; it's just good sense. Wanting real food in reasonable portions is not an exclusive pursuit of the effete elite, it's just sane.
All that said: To be perfectly frank, the writer's frustration is totally understandable. A noteworthy chunk of people who enthuse about food are highly irritating in the process (thus the newly coined word foochebag, which may really be the audience The Oregonian is trying to address here). But by attacking everyone who likes "the latest foodie craze—gourmet taco trucks" and defending everyone who likes eating at fast-food restaurants, you've engaged in precisely the same kind of dimwitted good-or-evilism that you say "foodies" practice on a regular basis.
The world's a complicated place, and thank God for that.
Image source: Flickr member stev.ie under Creative Commons
To those of us who reside in Oregon, this is a very interesting discussion. What readers may not be aware of is the background of this ongoing culture battle - seems that the Oregonian was a key player in the ongoing effort to bring many of the brightest, creative and young talents into the Portland restaurant scene over the past 10+ years, and they did this mostly through the regular...+READ
To those of us who reside in Oregon, this is a very interesting discussion. What readers may not be aware of is the background of this ongoing culture battle - seems that the Oregonian was a key player in the ongoing effort to bring many of the brightest, creative and young talents into the Portland restaurant scene over the past 10+ years, and they did this mostly through the regular contributions of their insightful restaurant reviewer, Karen Brooks. Brooks, and her cohort at The Oregonian, Roger Porter, were in fact the only 'professional' restaurant critics in Portland, and arguably were credited with keeping a short leash on the creativity of many of the city's better restaurants. However, somewhere along the way the powers that be at The Oregonian began to sense that Brooks and Porter were catering to local food elitists (aka, foodies), to the neglect of the 'masses' - and Brooks and Porter were pink-slipped. Thus began The Oregonian's culture war with local 'foodies', in which the paper has engaged in an aggressive and often amusing defense of the fast food industry, and its local outposts.
Regardless, the local food scene in Portland has continued to thrive - and The Oregonian has continued to look stupid.-COLLAPSE
The owner of the Old Spaghetti Factory really summed it all up when he said, "It can't be that bad if that many people are willing to spend their money and come here and eat with us."
I am Eater, hear me roar!
I am astonished about the discussion. I´m astonished, because I thougt Canada is a liberal and innovative country, open for different opinions and manifold ways of life. If I read the article I thought it happens in the mediaeval Europe and not in the 21. century and not in Northern America. I believe and hope it will be a joke, so to speak: a mental, sozial or alternative Halloween!
Not to mention that no one needs a guide to chain restaurants. They are everywhere -- we all know how to find them and what they serve. A better approach to a "non-foodie" guide would be to highlight some of the many affordable, delicious locally-owned restaurants that do not serve foie gras or quail eggs but still make a damn good hamburger or Caesar salad. But I guess that would just be a...+READ
Not to mention that no one needs a guide to chain restaurants. They are everywhere -- we all know how to find them and what they serve. A better approach to a "non-foodie" guide would be to highlight some of the many affordable, delicious locally-owned restaurants that do not serve foie gras or quail eggs but still make a damn good hamburger or Caesar salad. But I guess that would just be a "Cheap Eats" guide and that's been done to death. What the Oregonian has done here, in my opinion, reeks of a writer aching for a new idea and of a newspaper desperate to appear relevant to a wider audience.-COLLAPSE
No problem being called a foodie here--it means I like talking about food. I embrace it, determined not to let it be a dirty word like liberal, a term I also embrace. But yeah, when people start ejecting snobbish attitudes into the discussion, automatically discounting any and all chains merely because they aren't locally owned (they were at one point, don't forget)and acting above eating...+READ
No problem being called a foodie here--it means I like talking about food. I embrace it, determined not to let it be a dirty word like liberal, a term I also embrace. But yeah, when people start ejecting snobbish attitudes into the discussion, automatically discounting any and all chains merely because they aren't locally owned (they were at one point, don't forget)and acting above eating anything not bought at a farmer's market, then I understand the backlash. With all such battles, the best offense is simply to be a nice person and keep a civil tone in the discussion of food choices.-COLLAPSE
Why should I support a massive chain whose chefs are mere employees over a mom and pop place or a chef who genuinely cares about his/ her food and strives to put out the best meal? The chains care about the bottom line: profits. The smaller guys care about customer service and putting out a good meal. If that makes me a "foodie", then so be it.
If I am considered a food snob because I don't like the ingredients of items I ingest to look like the ingredient list on a can of hairspray, then so be it. Lets take something as simple as the ingredient list for "sauteed mushrooms" at McDonalds. Straight from their website, sauteed mushrooms contain: Mushrooms, liquid soybean oil, water, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, hydrogenated...+READ
If I am considered a food snob because I don't like the ingredients of items I ingest to look like the ingredient list on a can of hairspray, then so be it. Lets take something as simple as the ingredient list for "sauteed mushrooms" at McDonalds. Straight from their website, sauteed mushrooms contain: Mushrooms, liquid soybean oil, water, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, soy lecithin, mono-and
diglycerides, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservatives), artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene (color).
Go ahead, call me a snob. I'll call you dead by age 55 if you eat that garbage regularly.-COLLAPSE
Okay, some "foodies" are snobs. But many just care about better quality food and nutrition. I won't eat at Applebees or Chili's anymore because when you go to their website and look at the nutritional information there's a list of ingredients that look like a college science experiment gone bad. Those foods are jacked-up with extra sugar, salt and other ingredients to make you keep wanting more,...+READ
Okay, some "foodies" are snobs. But many just care about better quality food and nutrition. I won't eat at Applebees or Chili's anymore because when you go to their website and look at the nutritional information there's a list of ingredients that look like a college science experiment gone bad. Those foods are jacked-up with extra sugar, salt and other ingredients to make you keep wanting more, more, more. How bout deep fried wings with sickeningly sweet barbecue sauce and then a ranch dipping sauce. That's not real food. You never reach a sense of satiety.
I can go to Whole Foods market on Wednesdays when they mark down the price of their buffet/deli from $7.99 a pound to $5.99 a pound. For about the price of a supersized extra value meal I can get something fresh and tasty with a minimum of fake ingredients. Maybe it's a wrap sandwich. Salad. Chicken chili verde. Or a combination of whatever tastes I want. A little bite here and there. It's not gorgeously plated - architectural food. But it's clean food.
Okay, the ambience is "supermarket chic" which is bustling and noisy but at least I know I'm not putting syrupy sauces and deep fried everything into my body.-COLLAPSE
Dear CHOW writers: Perhaps you could dig a little deeper and find interesting articles to criticize rather than picking apart a local fluff peace. That might lend some credibility to your own writing.
Why care? Why should I give a rat's tail if somebody thinks I'm a food snob because I refuse to eat at Taco Bell or Fuddruckers? Think I'm a snob? Well, so be it. I think you have crappy taste in food.