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Now it’s official: the powers that be have banned the use of “foodie” here.
Honestly, I don’t think I’ve abused the word in my writing. Moving forward, though, you’re going to start seeing a lot more names on Chow Bella, and “foodie” is hereby off-limits to NT writers.
I’ve had a love-hate relationship with the word myself. When I first started hearing the term, especially when people referred to themselves as foodies, it had an inherent assholery. Calling yourself a foodie had about the same meaning to me as saying, “I’m an elitist dick.”
But over the years, I realize it doesn’t necessarily imply elitism, just an obsession with good food — and “good food” can mean so many things. I’ve also started to see the evils of bad food (blame or thank Michael Pollan!), and foodies are often the people advocating environmentally friendly views on food. Now, the word itself has a goofy, whimsical quality that seems endearing.
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Of course, I have to bite the bullet and admit that I’ve been a foodie all along. And if you’re reading this blog, you probably consider yourself one, too.
But I need a new word — actually, a variety of new words would be nice. Something that you’ll read and understand to mean “foodie,” almost like a secret code. I’m not really keen on overusing “gourmet,” because has an even more snobbish ring to it. And as dearly as I love my Chowhound friends, I can’t lobby for that word taking over, either. Every time I see my bulldog stick his face in a bowl full of puppy chow, I have to remind myself that Chowhound is just a website, not my ravenous pet.
So please feed my vocabulary! What do you consider yourself, if not a foodie?
