Foodie, The Newest Four Letter Word
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011Did you see the brilliantly written review of several new foodie books by B.R. Myers in the most recent Atlantic? I learned about the story and the thread of electronic havoc it’s causing from food politics writer Hannah Wallace, in her weekly round-up for Faster Times.
Where do I begin? His basic thesis is that foodies have formed a tribe whose value system is focused on creating an exclusive community, brutal moments of violence (killing their dinner, for instance), and elitist experiences only affordable if you have trustifarian rootstock.
Many of Myer’s comments and observations contain grains of truth but he seems to be expanding those little grains into fully developed absolutes, which they’re not. I’d like him to stop and consider the simple quest for flavor and those who seek it. I know that most of his attacks are directed at what he calls “fringe foodies,” and perhaps I’m talking about more mainstream foodies, but it seems ill-informed and unhelpful to lump all degrees of “gourmets,” “foodies,” or “flavor seekers” into one scorn-deserving pot.
The f-word has long been banned from my vocabulary because it doesn’t describe me, my company or how we think about the food system and why good food matters (though we still have we call “Foodie Fridays” at which we learn new craft food and drink techniques as a continuing education practice — the name just sounds too good to change!). So, perhaps the big idea Myers meant to convey was not that Gabrielle Hamilton’s poetic appreciation of raw flesh is pornographic, inappropriate and the emblem of what’s wrong in the national food conversation but that the club of those who relish cooking, sourcing, writing about food is one whose door was shut on him for some reason — not sure why — and he wants membership.
And, it’s probably good news for him that there are a lot of recipes available for bitters on most cocktail websites, because as Robert Sietsma says (speaking for so many of us, thank you) in his rebuttal in the Village Voice, “Myers’ real problem is dyspepsia. He really, really doesn’t enjoy eating. And resents those of us who do. ”
Enjoy, and let me know what you think after you read both Myers and Sietsma. Both are worth the read.
For those who care: Gabrielle Hamilton is doing a book dinner for her new book Blood, Bones and Butter, at Nostrana in Portland on March 13th.
40 wineries in one day, how to pick and choose which to taste? Twitter, of course!
