When Being a Foodie is NOT Cool

I've loved food since I was a young girl. gourmet and fast food and everything in between. I can eat a fresh lobster roll for lunch and enjoy a Whopper for dinner.

I also like to have fun. Snobbery isn't fun. It's so isolating, for one thing! I'd prefer a trip to the all-you-can-eat tamales buffet at Pancho's with the gang to fine dining all by my lonesome...

I've gotten many comments on what I eat from foodies & non-foodies alike. The worst was in nursing school. We would eat lunch as a group at clinicals. My experience led me to believe this is just yet another way women size themselves up against other women.

I was singled out at ONE meal by the group of 9 other women for what I was eating. While eating the tofu stir-fry part of my lunch it was "How can you eat that, it's so gross!" While eating the slice of pecan pie, one of my favorite treats that I partake in maybe once a year, I was told "How can you eat that? Don't know you how many calories are in that?"

I calmly replied "I can eat the pecan pie, because the rest of my meal was low-fat & nutrient dense. I just assume we all made a conscious decision picking out our menu & I would never second guess what another woman was eating."

I also have a personal rule that I share when people criticize food choices in public: "I never talk about what a person is eating while they're eating it. It may be the only thing they can afford." This came from my days in ELEMENTARY school when I'd watch my low-income friends have to choke down a school lunch with the whole table talking about how gross it was.

If a 7-year-old can see the problem with that, grown adults should be able to.

Thank you for writing this. I love how you put it out there about how people can be; and how they shouldn't be. Such a great post!! =) ** Sparkled**!

I always considered myself a foodie even before it became a fad....I grew up in hotels in Europe around world-class chefs and I studied at Hotel Academy so food, cooking and restaurants is in my blood...I will eat and have eaten anywhere from fast food, hole in a wall restaurant, taco stand to five star restaurants. The truth is sometimes I had better meals and service at taco stand or fast food chain then in five star restaurant.

These new so called foodies are nothing , but foodie snobs who give bad name to real foodies with passion.....they are nothing , but mean posers who should not be taken seriously....

When someone judges your food choices, they are dissing you, plain and simple.

I eat where and what I can to keep my body healthy within my budget and guide my patients to do the same.

There are "healthy" choices even at McDonald's. I tend to avoid McDonald's simply because it is a gluten fest, and will make me sick. But if I'm traveling and it is the only place in town, I can get a salad and a shake to make a simple meal.

I prefer Wendy's for their baked potato and side salad.

Judging people on their food choices is just mean.

I consider myself a "home-reared-chef," because I learned to cook at home. I also consider me a "foodie," because I love to eat (and cook!). I enjoy eating home cooked meals to gourmet to totally enjoying a McDonald's fish sandwich and fries. And I as well enjoy taking advantage of a "two for one," anytime. (smile!)

I just loved this post!!

~Virginia

So true. I am a food blogger that cooks...making food for my friends and family has always been fun and I do love discovering new and unique dishes (really, I made BBQ goat today). BUT I'm so not a food snob and those that are are lame. I met a bunch this past weekend at a food type event. It was funny that they were hyper critical of everything yet none, to a person, could cook. Hmm, methinks they have no business judging others personally1

And my favorite once in a blue moon dinner is a throwback to my teens and I still LOVE it. Mcd's fish filet, fries and a vanilla shake. And I'll tweet it. Bring it on...cause everyone has a guilty pleasure and I think the loudest doth protest too much.

Secret: We got to the McDonald's sometimes on Saturday shopping day. Just the two of us. It is a big deal when we do.

Thank you! And, can we *please* find some word other than "foodie"? Yes, I love to cook, bake, eat, share food, (and write about it (grin)) but hey, "foodie"? Really? Help! Love this post!!

I came across this fabulous quote from a book of essays by actress/writer/wit Cornelia Otis Skinner, which was published in 1950:

"One of the inexplicable characteristics of homo not to sapiens is his intolerance of his fellow man's eating preferences. That food has always been, and will continue to be, the basis for one of our greater snobbisms does not explain the fact that the attitude toward the food choice of others is becoming more and more heatedly exclusive until it may well turn into one of those forms of bigotry against which gallant little committees are constantly planning campaigns in the cause of justice and decency."

As a former picky eater turned culinary school grad and food writer/editor, I abhor calling people out for their food choices. Since I felt ashamed of my pickiness throughout a lot of my adult life, I will never judge others for their choices. And while I might eat farm fresh produce and occasionally make my own pasta, I would never give up the pleasures afforded to me by Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and, yes, McDonald's.

Remember, even Julia Child loved herself some McDonald's.

I've been vegetarian for 18 years, so I've been berated for my food choices most of my life. I don't consider myself a foodie, but I love to eat and I like high quality "real" food...what steams me is when people tell me that my choices are "snobby". I don't pick on other people because of what they eat and I don't shove what I eat in others' faces or feel that my food choices make me "better" than anyone else. I eat what I eat to stay healthy and because it is food that I like. Being a "foodie" doesn't automatically MAKE you a snob.

I just think that people should eat where ever they please. It's rude to judge another person's choices and it's absolutely ridiculous to judge another person's food choices. It's their life, their body, and who knows? Maybe they just felt like cheap, greasy food.

Nobody can claim they don't get crazy cravings for fast food. I'm a vegetarian and even find myself craving fast food- Taco Time veggie burritos and chick-fil-a fries are my two big weaknesses.

Snobbery is just stupid, no matter what form it comes in.

I have noticed this as well and it grates on my nerves. A while back I had someone on Twitter berate me for eating at a Cracker Barrel, the person then gave me local alternatives that were of course far pricier for a family outing than Cracker Barrel. Over the years I have blogged numerous times about food snobbery and how all of a sudden if you don't/won't eat certain items you are viewed as a simpleton.

I agree that being into different food is cool but making value judgments about what and where folks eat is not cool. Sometimes you just want hot fries from McDonald's with a cold Coke for no reason other than you just do.

are not cool! However, foodies are fun! I think it's great to cook new meals, try new restaurants, but every now and then the Olive Garden does call my name....