Week 8: The Great Foodie Pyramid

In The Atlantic magazine article “The Moral Crusade Against Foodies,” B.R. Myers contends that foodies – someone with a refined interest or job in the food industry – have added an unnecessary level of elitism to food culture, “It has always been crucial to the gourmet’s pleasure that [the foodie] eat in the ways the mainstream cannot afford.”

While there was always some level of elitism amongst the leaders in the food industry -- I believe now more then ever there is a separation of class in the food world -- due in large part to the reality cooking TV boom of the last decade.

Take a look at one of cables most prominent foodies, Anthony Bourdain. Myers argues that the foodie “in values, sense of humor, even childhood experience, its members are as similar to each other as they are different from everyone else.” Bourdain is certainly different from everyone else. He’s brash, unfiltered and extravagant. In a recent interview with Playboy magazine, Bourdain wasn’t shy about speaking his mind on his fellow TV chefs Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay and Wolfgang Puck: “I don’t understand why these guys would make this candy-colored sort of crowd pleasing television.”

Instead of catering his show towards the cooking needs of his viewers, Bourdain travels the world sparing no expense, eating foods in places the average viewer could only dream of visiting. Anthony Bourdain has used his new found celebrity and the popularity of No Reservations to try and hold Americans to a higher culinary standard, something that might be out of reach. In a New York Times article “Unsavory Culinary Elitism” Bourdain rips Paula Deen: ““telling an already obese nation that it’s O.K. to eat food that is killing us.” Deen responds to the loudmouth Bourdain’s criticism of her show:

““Not everybody can afford to pay $58 for prime rib or $650 for a bottle of wine.”

And not every foodie can aspire to eat at the level of Anthony Bourdain.

At the end of Myers piece he says “[Foodies are] not all bad.” Enter Julie Powell. The line between aspiring foodie and food star was blurred when Powell’s blog detailing her quest to cook like Julia Child for one year resulted in a book deal…and then a film. Class separation in the food world is inevitable. Powell’s story shows that the average cook can garner attention in the food world, even if they aren’t a Top Chef or have the character and resources of an Anthony Bourdain.

So where exactly do Bourdain and Powell fit into the foodie hierarchy?

I’ve created a foodie pyramid to better define the term: