What's in a Word?

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Jan 8, 2008 3:30PM

Food writer John T. Edge, in the latest edition of the under-appreciated Oxford American magazine, profiles scientist and serious eater Ken Ford, who has a depth of culinary knowledge that is earned only with constant searching. In profiling Ford, Edge raises an interesting observation about a common slang term used to describe a gourmet:

Foodie ... is dismissive, summoning comparisons to groupie (gotta have it) and junkie (can't quit it). Call Ken Ford a foodie and you trivialize his pursuits. "The word implies a kind of pathology," he says, gloves off, dander up.

We can sympathize. Having caught ourselves savoring an ort a moment too long in order to pinpoint that savory flavor whose name eludes us; drawing air into our mouth to open up a swallow of wine as though we just surfaced from the deep end of a pool; eliciting confused stares from diners as we broke out a camera at the dinner table; reading cookbooks with the zeal of the recently baptized, we've certainly done some foodie-like things.

And yet, we've never truly embraced the term. For us, "foodie" connotes both a geekiness we're hesitant to accept and an oversimplification of how we view food and drink. Coming from Edge, who is to us as Bourdain is to other food porn buffs (that is, the balls), it's a cold blast of air to the face that reminds us we are not alone.

So we'll ask you: Do you call yourself a foodie? If so, why? If not, why not?

Photo credit: Kyle Hood.