Frankly, I'm proud to be a fully committed Foodie and absolutely not afraid of the F-word. While friends and family have (mostly) kept their thoughts about my increasingly bulging waistline to themselves, they've become more intrigued by my passionate immersion in shopping, eating, reading, vacationing, and conversing obsessively about food...
Does this sound familiar? Are you truly Epicurious? Well it sounded just like my hubby and I about ten years ago, and still does today...Sudi Pigott wrote this in a little pink and brown book, 'How to be a Better Foodie', that I keep in my guest bathroom for a good reader, and most come out chuckling over the random quotes, descriptions, and definitions...and probably connecting it to the fact that they now know exactly what there hosts (us) are...food geeks!
My bookshelves house many reads like this by David Kamp, Tom Colichio, Charlie Trotter, Ruth Reichl, and many other chefs and food critics...
This book is delectable, erudite yet firmly tongue-in-cheek version of EATS (greedily) SHOOTS (daikon) and LEAVES (preferably shiso, surely rocket is so over) bulging with information that the better foodie needs to acquire full gastro-credentials...and the author remebers when, where, and how she knew she was a true and sincere foodie like me...
My first knowledge of who, what, and why food was more than just sustinance...was when I first saw my aunt make lasagna at age nine; which my mom did not make, and a dish of french green beans with cream cheese, gouda and other ingredients like 'fresh' garlic and not powder, and I found it to be a supreme dish and wanted to put these ingredients in our home foods, but was told "Your father likes his food made the same way, and since he makes the living, he gets what he wants" by my mom. Meat, potatoes, and canned vegetables were the norm.
I would linger at the counter watching her, my grandmother, and others making the same foods over and over, but I wanted more! I longed to try new things, so i found excuses to eat at the neighbors (who grew figs), and friends from school (who added cheese and herbs to biscuits), and the hispanic friend Silvia's mothers Mexican creations... so that I could try more than what was being offered at home...my palate demanded it!
A Quiz...What kind of Foodie are you?
1) How often do you think about food a day? everyday, and I plan meals weeks in advance depending on ingredients available, and not just part of my 'real' job!
2) How do you choose your vacation destinations? We make food reservations before choosing destinations (based on reservations), hotel, etc...
3) What's your idea of a serious shooping day out? I hit most of the ethnic and gourmet shops first, and Whole Foods and Wegmans which host more unique ingredients for me to play...
4) What are you most likely to dream of? what new creations or combinations to make...
5) How do you like to clebrate your birthday? A new unique eatery of course!
6) What does thinking seasonally mean to you? I keep a list of foods that are locally and seasonally grown, and what I would find in the market...ready for summer tomatoes!
7) what works for you to relieve tension and stress? duh! being in the kitchen...
8) What's your beside reading? duh! stacks of cookbooks, gourmet and test kitchen magazines...
9)What do you consider eating more adventurously? well hubby and son ate live tiny crabs once at a Sushi restaurant, but I will do most things that are not 'normal', but they cannot move...anymore!
...and I would add another to her all readly long list of 'foodie' questions...
10) Do you blog about food, and how many computer sites do you have that include your food ramblings? at lest four, maybe five...
Do you remeber when, where, and why you became the foodie that you are today? We all still have our 'taboos', but I eat things now that I would have not when I was younger...a much larger palate due to our global tranporting of ingredients, and recipes out there...
'Gluten Free Lemon Caper Chicken Pizza' is coming soon...
