Mark Bittman, the New York Times food writer, has an excellent piece in the paper about foodies, and how to turn them into food activists.
An excerpt:
"I do wish there were a stronger, less demeaning-sounding word than 'foodie' for someone who cares about good food, but as seems so often the case, there is not. Witness the near-meaningless-ness of 'natural' and 'vegetarian' and the inadequacy of 'organic' and 'vegan.' But proposing new words is a fool’s game; rather, let’s try to make the word 'foodie' a tad more meaningful … We can’t ask everyone who likes eating — which, given enough time and an adequate income, includes everyone I’ve ever met — to become a food activist. But to increase the consciousness levels of well-intentioned foodies, it might be useful to sketch out what 'caring about good food' means, and to try to move 'foodie' to a place where it refers to someone who gets beyond fun to pay attention to how food is produced and the impact it has.
"The qualities that characterize good food vary within a narrow range. Good food is real, it’s healthy, it’s produced sustainably, it’s fair and it’s affordable. Maybe it’s prepared at home, though if communal kitchens or restaurants can deliver those qualities, I’m all for that.
"None of this is complicated, but simple doesn’t mean easy."
You can read the entire piece here.
An excerpt:
"I do wish there were a stronger, less demeaning-sounding word than 'foodie' for someone who cares about good food, but as seems so often the case, there is not. Witness the near-meaningless-ness of 'natural' and 'vegetarian' and the inadequacy of 'organic' and 'vegan.' But proposing new words is a fool’s game; rather, let’s try to make the word 'foodie' a tad more meaningful … We can’t ask everyone who likes eating — which, given enough time and an adequate income, includes everyone I’ve ever met — to become a food activist. But to increase the consciousness levels of well-intentioned foodies, it might be useful to sketch out what 'caring about good food' means, and to try to move 'foodie' to a place where it refers to someone who gets beyond fun to pay attention to how food is produced and the impact it has.
"The qualities that characterize good food vary within a narrow range. Good food is real, it’s healthy, it’s produced sustainably, it’s fair and it’s affordable. Maybe it’s prepared at home, though if communal kitchens or restaurants can deliver those qualities, I’m all for that.
"None of this is complicated, but simple doesn’t mean easy."
You can read the entire piece here.
- KC's View:
