I have enjoyed many types of food. I enjoy lobster, steak, and decorative entrees from high class restaurants and yes, they are all expensive. On the hand, I equally enjoy spicy, cheesy Doritos and macaroni and cheese, which are both extremely cheap. If I was poor and had to live the rest of my life without being able to afford lobster ever again, I would be tremendously disappointed, but it wouldn’t keep me from being a foodie. I could still appreciate simple, abundant, and cheap foods because the flavors come from the food itself, not its price tag.
Some of the foods that I love the most are inexpensive and can be acquired by the poorest of the poor. For example, Ramen Noodles cost less than water and they taste great and come in a variety of flavors. I eat them at least three times a week and I still consider them a treat. I can honestly say that if I ever become rich, I will still crave their salty goodness. It doesn’t matter what your economic situation is, you can still be a foodie in love with Ramen noodles.
There are foodies all over the world who are foodies because they enjoy cooking and eating the food available to them. Even if the only food obtainable is cheap and unvaried, one can still be a foodie. As long as you enjoy preparing food and, more importantly eating food, then you are a foodie. People with more resources might have better ingredients and cooking implements, but that doesn’t make them anymore of a foodie because it’s about enjoying food, not the quality of the food.
By looking at the definition of the word foodie, it is easy to see that socioeconomic status has no relation to whether or not a person is one. The definition given for the word foodie in the Oxford English Dictionary is “a person with a particular interest in food…”. Does it take a set amount of resources or money to have an interest in something? Of course not. Everyone has interests regardless of their economic situation, and that interest can be food. So by definition, literally anyone can be a foodie.
One of the best ways to explain my stance is to try to recall a series of situations that support my claims. I pinpointed three separate eating experiences that I consider to be foodie experiences as well. Each of them cost different amounts of money and they accurately represent the socioeconomic spectrum.
The first experience represents the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum. I was walking to my dorm room last Friday and noticed that was a little hungry. So I stopped by the Eastside Market and bought a Snickers Bar. The purchase cost around a dollar. As I ate the candy, I remember thinking that Snickers are the best invention of all time and that I thoroughly enjoy them whenever I eat one. This to me is a successful foodie experience and it is easily affordable for the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum.
The second experience corresponds to the middle class section of the spectrum. Last year, a few days before Christmas, I enjoyed a delicious, traditional, Japanese meal with my family in Chicago. It was cooked by the experienced hands of my grandmother with ingredients from local Japanese markets. It’s a tradition that happens every year and it is always a true foodie experience. However, the meal isn’t expensive and is certainly affordable by any middle class family.
The third experience can be thought to signify the upper class end of the spectrum. Two years ago I traveled to Hawaii to visit relative. One night, my cousin took me out to eat at a very expensive restaurant called Bali by the Sea. The food served there was fresh from the sea and served literally on silver platters. I had at least ten types of fish and countless other creatures from the ocean. It was the best seafood I ever had and is yet another foodie experience.
I count all of these experiences as foodie experiences even though they all vary in situation and in financial range. This further proves that you can be a foodie at any socioeconomic level. It also proves that the quality of the foodie experience is not related to the amount of money spent on the experience because I enjoyed all three of my experiences equally.
It is important to understand that you cannot place foodies as a certain class or group of people. Anyone can be a foodie regardless of their economic status. This concept is hard for some to understand, so I will debate some counterarguments in the following paragraphs.
One argument is that people with a larger income can eat at more high class restaurants, which allows them to enjoy better food. I believe that although a person of less income may eat food of a lower quality, they can still be just as much of a foodie as long as they are enthusiastic about the food they do have. If a fisherman can afford an expensive fishing rod, does that make him better at fishing then someone with a less expensive one? Not necessarily.
Some people assume that the rich enjoy food more than the poor because they are more sophisticated and can appreciate it more. This also is not true. In fact, I believe that the poor enjoy and appreciate food more than the rich. Let’s look at the extreme end of the spectrum. A homeless man, living in an ally in Atlanta hasn’t eaten in two days. He walks to a church that provides free dinner once a week to the homeless and receives his small meal. It doesn’t matter what the food is, how well it’s cooked, or how expensive it was to make, because that man will enjoy this meal more than anyone at a five star restaurant can even imagine.
Another argument is that people of higher socioeconomic status have can afford more items related to foodie culture, such as cookbooks and food magazines, and this makes them more qualified to be a foodie. Again, I believe that it doesn’t matter what material possessions a person has because being a foodie is about one’s interest in food and not how much of it they are exposed to, or the quality of it.
Lots of people say that if someone has more money then they can afford better tasting food and hence be a better foodie. Taste is a matter of opinion. Who’s to say that people can’t think that cheap food tastes good? I already explained my personal love of Ramen noodles. It’s like saying that if you pass two gas stations and one is selling it for four dollars a gallon and the other is selling it for three dollars a gallon, the gas from the more expensive one is better. I just doesn’t make sense.
The biggest argument seems to be that if it is true that anyone can be a foodie, then why does it seem that most foodies are middle to upper class instead of lower class? The answer is simple. Being a foodie is a leisure activity, like a hobby. People with larger incomes tend to have more free time, and hence have more hobbies. It is true that the extreme poor are less likely to be foodies, anyone can see that. But even so, it doesn’t mean that the poor can’t be foodies. So does socioeconomic status effect whether or not someone can be a foodie? No, it doesn’t, because as long as the person loves food, then he or she is a foodie.
My final response to those who believe that it socioeconomic status effects whether or not someone is a foodie is this. Let’s say that there was a rich man that feasted every day on expensive foods. He considered himself a foodie and traveled the world seeking out new culinary experiences. Then, because of reasons unknown, he lost all of his fortune. He was thrown out of his house and was forced to live in a cardboard box. He is now on the opposite end of the socioeconomic spectrum, but he still longs for the food that he can no longer afford. He still thinks that food is interesting and wishes that he could continue to travel in search of new delicacies. Is he still a foodie? I believe that he is. In fact, he is my perfect example of someone who went through the entire socioeconomic spectrum, and was a foodie the entire way.
Foodie culture is different for everyone because everyone enjoys different flavors and foods. The one thing that all foodies have in common is their interest in food, and an interest in food is universal. Everyone needs it to survive, so in a way, everyone has a little bit of foodie in them. Being a foodie is a choice that anyone can make, and it’s something that money just can’t buy.
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