Really? An Anti-Foodie rant worth reading? I've always taken issue with the term "foodie", but this guy (B.R. Myers) portrays anyone who cares about what they eat or who puts eating in a philosophical context as a snob and a hypocrite. Lord knows what he thinks of M.F.K. Fisher (or Brillat-Savarin or Thomas Jefferson)!?!
Why is a passion for all things food so offensive? I see no such arguments against fashionistas or art groupies! Really?!!?!

LauraEvrard - There's a link at the bottom of the Grub Street article to a response by Robert Sietsema essentially calling Myers out as an overinflated (and dyspeptic) gasbag. I tend to agree.

Yeah, the title ("Rant Worth Reading") is definitely Grub Street's - not mine.

I don't think he's calling out a passion for food. He's calling out a passion for food that eclipses other stated values. There are parts of the food writing community that go to excess. Eating endangered species and 36-hour feasts are excessive.

Ooops! Mea Culpa! I only read the excerpts from Grub Street, not the article (I didn't see the link right away). Myers has some VERY good points, I was way too quick to react. There is excess in "foodie" culture and I'm glad he's calling it out.

mollyjade - I agree, but the excessive parts are very much a minority - and any human endeavor is going to have its extremists. It's neither accurate nor particularly productive to paint "foodies"/home cooks/passionate chefs as some monolithic Bacchanalian horde. Besides, what's wrong with food being your driving passion? Other than a fairly snobbish (and so out-of-context as to be useless) reference to Gibbon, the only argument Myers makes against food-as-passion is that it takes the place of religion for some people. Myers apparently feels this is an abhorrent and perverse condition, perhaps because religion is clearly the backbone of human morality, the absence of which indicates a fatal deficiency in moral fiber. And moral fiber isn't found in food, oh ye heretics!

It wasn't really worth reading. It was more an anecdotal rant. You gotta have more than that to get published.

Why is food such a divisive issue in America, to the extent that people label themselves and others 'foodies' or 'non-foodies'? In most countries, even poorer ones, (with the exception of the UK, perhaps), there is a general consensus that food is important, and should be enjoyed, shared and talked about. Why do Americans confuse passion for eating well with pretension and elitism?

I thought the artical was a bit all over the place, and I wasn't sure who's side it was on (was the writer vegetarian?).

I think the reason more folk are inclined to be 'foodies' in American and the UK is because there's more of a convienience food culture. In many small towns and villages there used not be supermarkets with everything prepackaged. Goingto the butcher and Greengrocer is normal.

Things are changing though and I see more and more supermarkets in small towns now so I imagine food snobbery will spread even here in Ireland. (I also think it's an urban thing... again being so many steps away from the production of food).