"[Ron] Eyester [executive chef and owner of Rosebud in Atlanta] laughs, "The foodie feels empowered by their passion for food, which creates a false bravado of how knowledgeable they think they are about food. The ironic part is they're simply being spoon fed something from a food personality: 'Well I saw something on the Food Network, and why don't you have it?'"
"Well because we try to cook seasonably and that know it all idiot was probably in California.""
The dictionary defines a foodie as "someone who has an ardent or refined interest in food." In previous decades, words like "epicure" or "gourmet" were used to apply to the same type of person. The words are out of favor now, and bring to mind stodgy, snobbish people who are only willing to consider a restaurant that has truffled pate on the menu. This is because good food was hard to get and expensive in years, decades and centuries past. People didn't have the resources to buy virtually anything they could want and often wouldn't have the means to cook it. Now, both times and terms have changed. Anyone can be a foodie, but there are some rules.
To be a foodie is not only to like food, but to be interested in it. Just as a good student will have a thirst for knowledge, a foodie wants to learn about food. A foodie will never answer the question "What are you eating" with "I don't know." There are some basic traits of being a foodie, as there are basic traits that come with all labels. Generally, you have to know what you like, why you like it, recognize why some foods are better than others and want to have good tasting food all or certainly most of the time. This doesn't mean that you can't eat junk food, but you might just seek out how those junk foods are created and exactly why they taste so good and you most certainly would never suggest junk food is "good for you".
You might be a foodie if...you want to make a grilled-cheese sandwich, but you only have three kinds of cheese.
...you visit grocery stores like it is a tourist destination when you are traveling out of town or search for outdoor markets.
...you take a picture of your food before you eat it.
...it's impossible to walk through the Marketplace at IKEA without buying a food gadget or tool and then blame it on the low prices.
...your reading list yields as many recipes as it does story lines.
...you offer to cater your friend's parties, just so you can try out recipes that you've bookmarked.
A foodie wants to know the difference between a beefsteak tomato and an heirloom. You don't have to know, but you want too. Does a foodie always shop at the local farmer's market? No, but you probably shop around for the best local ingredients and fresh produce. Are there some foods you just don't like or weird foods you like? That's ok - it doesn't make you any less of a foodie.
The bad side of being a "foodie" if you call yourself a "foodie", you aren't one; or you aren't what you think it means. I personally like to say that a "foodie" is the politically correct term for fat person. All kidding aside, you probably should just like the food, eat it when you want, don't tell others their tastes aren't refined and call yourself a great cook instead.
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