Before I try to disintegrate the etymology of the gastronomically stupid word ‘Foodie’, let me just put it out there: I like food. I have an interest in food. I eat food every day. I have never fasted in my life. I am not planning to fast unless I want to try the kewl intermittent fasting. I can eat any food of any taste and I consider food anything as long as it wasn’t breathing oxygen or had legs or fins or wings or gills or scales or eyes. And, if I have to, my life motto is: I would eat any food whatsoever if the need arises, but I hope it doesn’t but if it does, I am game.
But I am not a ‘Foodie’. What is a Foodie really? Someone who likes eating? I think a Foodie actually means one who cannot control themselves from eating out. They don’t cook themselves, because if they did, then they would have respected food. Their tongues and nostrils are home to billions of taste sensors and buds which are at least 2-3 more than any other sane food-eating human. Their nose has been to places and the tongue has seen it all. And I mean everything! They are folks who can eat anything in any quantity. Like 1000 Gol-Gappas and all. That means Foodies are food abusers as they don’t respect food. They take advantage of the food. They maul food if I want to be polite here. Even Animals eat only what is needed by their bodies. These people who call themselves foodies are enslaved by food actually. They are not connoisseurs of Food. Rather they are victims and might need help.
Anyway, this year I have not eaten out much. My last order of food was in March 2020. I survived the rest of the year fine. Being a Foodie doesn’t make you cool. Creating food does. Cultivating food does. And respecting food as a decent human being does.
Talking of food, firstly I feel hungry now. Secondly, I am yet to read this book though but this podcast of Krish Ashok with Amit Varma was mind-blowingly fantastic which was enough motivation to buy it, if not for knowing Krish Ashok’s decade-plus of blogging as one of my inspirations. It had enough amount of Science served with a mouth ravishing platter of dishes explained that it generated an enormous appetite to learn more about food and how to make it taste better if served in the right quantity.
Photo by Colin Maynard on Unsplash