"Foodies" news and stories

It looks like the populist fever that's been sweeping through American politics this season has hit the food world -- in Portland, Oregon, of all places.Food lovers have been flocking to Portland for years; the place is a culinary mecca and practically synonymous with the whole ethos of sustainability ("organic," "locally grown") that's swept through American cooking over the past decade. To criticize someone for being a "foodie" in Portland is like talking smack about steaks in Texas.

But one local writer lambasted foodie-culture in a piece that introduced last week's "Non-Foodies Food Guide" in the Orgeonian, the city's major daily paper. "I am not a foodie," writes Lee Williams. "To me, food is what you eat, not what you pray to. Call them gourmands, connoisseurs, picky eaters, or just plain old snobs. Foodies blog, write and chat about pet restaurants, trends and chefs. They leave little room on their plates or in their hearts for fast food, family dining and the untrendy. And they can be pretty mean to some places we love."

There's a certain amount of liberal bourgeois guilt among those of us who are paid to spend our days sampling things like squab-and-foie-gras croustillant and then write about it.

We generally don't discuss it, except perhaps after we've reached the bottom of the second or third scientifically blended cocktail at a place like Death & Co. in Manhattan's East Village and otherwise exhausted ourselves trying to pinpoint exactly what it was that gave that $13 glass of whiskey its particular piquancy. Was it an infusion of Fuji apple? Or the spiced pear?

After all, the downside of decadence is the sneaking suspicion that when the revolution comes (admittedly a remote possibility), we'll be rounded up with others of our ilk -- film critics, art historians -- and shipped off to some gulag in Alaska to break rocks.

The same sort of cynical despair gives us all manner of indy films and just about anything written by Jonathan Franzen. it also gives us the occasional tirade by a food writer, in this case last Friday's blog post by LA Weekly's Amy Scattergood, "Top 10 Foodie Words We Hate: Starting with Foodie."

Author Eric Burkett -- chef, food writer and Buddhist minister-in-training -- posted an essay on the blog Grist identifying a new breed of Foodies. He writes that Americans are "embracing food -- or food activism -- as their new religion" and exhibiting all the usual characteristics like "zealotry, passion, conviction, and a touch of self-righteousness in many cases."

Let's face it; is there anything more annoying than a self-righteous foodie? It's bad enough we had to listen to dull discourses on the latest cheese made by Bulgarian monks or monotonous monologues on the last meal they had at Chez Snooty. Now their diatribes are bordering on scary and strident fanaticism.

Photo: jljjld(away)/Flickr

Is there one food about which you -- despite maybe being a food snob the rest of the time -- are not at all fussy? About which you say, "I don't care who makes it: I'll eat it!"

We realized after chomping down our second ice cream of the day that perhaps, perhaps, we are not so discerning about the stuff. It was late at night, and Häagen-Dazs Five (mint) had us rather over the moon. Then we realized that really, we've rarely met a decently-made ice cream that didn't sway our affections at least a little bit.

It's one of those foods that, as long as its basic components are intact, fails to register on the Picky Meter. Such eats are a relatively rare breed; they exist largely to answer a timeless and bottomless craving, and their combination of ingredients hits the pleasure buttons that in turn short-circuit the ability to criticize -- and to say "no."

Here are five we think might hit those buttons. Vote for yours, and if it's "other," hit the comments to let us know what it is!

Just in case you're not certain that Obama is loved by foodies and farmers, read articles from food critics and writers, such as Ruth Reichl and David Kamp. Better yet, check out the blog Obama Foodorama. An article from the New York Times explains that the Obama family is viewed by many as one that cares about eating organic. Kim Severson states: "Mr. Obama looks like the first foodie president since Thomas Jefferson."

Tell me your national food concerns and I'll tell you why you're for Obama. Despite Obama's recent choice of Secretary of Agriculture, former Iowa governor Tom Vilsak, foodies around the nation view Obama as someone who will deliver change for both small farmers and ubran gastronomes alike. Yes, Vilsak supports alternative fuels like corn-based ethanol and is a proponent of biotechnology. Nevertheless, we can forgive Obama for not choosing someone like Alice Waters or Michael Pollen. With the current state of affairs(an ongoing war and the economic crisis), he has bigger fish to fry at the moment.

After the jump, find out specific requests from food critics, reformers, and chefs.