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Origins of a Foodie
Recently I became a father to a wonderful little girl, Lila. In the weeks and months leading up to her arrival Andrea and I spent a huge amount of time painting the house, getting rid of stuff (to make room for the 8lb baby and 80lbs of stuff they come with!).
Part of the process involved a book culling. I took the opportunity to house all my food and cooking related tomes in one place which was nice. I got rid of a few duds and discovered some ephemeral treasures such as The Official Foodie Handbook by Ann Barr and Paul Levy. The book is from 1984 and the cover is 100 percent cheeseball (I think quite literally as there’s a photo of the Parthenon or something made entirely of food). Anyway, as it turns out, the contents of the book are quite interesting. I’m still only part way through this book which is packed tightly with all manner of interesting stuff.
I thought I’d find out a bit more info and also discovered that Levy is actually credited with coining the term “Foodie”. Now that is impressive.
With Lila due within weeks, I stumbled onto a chapter titled “The Foodie Life Cycle” on page 19. I’m completely hopeful Lila doesn’t fulfill the exact path outlined, but if she has any of my genes (really hope so!), there’s a good chance she’ll alienate some classmates in the school cafeteria, eschewing sloppy joes for smoked black cod. I’m shamelessly reproducing the full text here with credit in part because I could not have delivered it better. Despite some things which are now outdated and no longer true, much is eerily accurate and now seems rather prophetic given it was penned almost 25 years ago. So dear Lila:
A second generation Foodie is as rare as a white truffle
You are about to be born, to Foodie parents. You will be that rarity in the Foodie word, someone who was born not converted. There will be more of you in the future, but at present you are an infant pioneer–a person with roughly 70 years of service to food in front of you: 51,100 major meals. They will pass all too fast.
You have made arrangements to take your first [meal] in San Francisco rather than Los Angeles, New York rather than Boston, Chicago rather than St. Louis, London rather than Manchester and Lyon rather than Paris; if you are in the eastern hemisphere you have chosen Hong Kong in preference to Manila and Tokyo to Sydney. Above all you have avoided eastern Europe.
You will spend the next four to six months at your mother’s breast, laying down a sensible nutritional foundation for, in preparation for the solid business of a lifetime. If you’ve been born in America, your parents will have no problem weaning you onto a Foodie diet; but if you’ve had the bad luck to be born somewhere where Beechnut Baby Foods (sugar-free, salt-free, additive-free) are not sold, your parents will make a thorough search of the shops of North London or around the rue de Rosier in Paris, Beechnut Foods are also kosher. Continue reading "Origins of a Foodie"
