Are You A Foodie?

Recently a friend asked me if I minded being called a “foodie”.

I don’t. For me “foodie” came along as a replacement in language for labels such as “gourmet” and “epicure”, and indicated a shift from food snobbery towards embracing casual home cooking, good quality comfort food and the tasty goodness that comes from what is patronizingly called “honest food”.  If I have to use a label I want it to be one that does not imply pretensions around food and food knowledge while still reflecting the enthusiasm, passion and enjoyment I get from learning more about the production, preparation and origins of the food I eat. 

However recent more people do object to being labeled a “foodie” feeling that the term “foodie” has evolved to imply a snobbery and that pretension I work so hard to avoid personally and professionally.  Or that it has devolved to become, as the NYmag.com’s Grub Street  puts it, “a derogatory term used to describe those who sit at home watching Semi-Homemade on the Food Network.”

Even harsher is one of the Urban Dictionary definitions, where one contributor added that foodie is “A politically correct term for a fat person”.

So, how about you? What do you think being a “foodie” means? Do you embrace or reject the label?  What would you prefer to be called?