Foodie Culture, Reserved for the Rich

In today’s world, much focus has been placed on foodie culture, mainly through the use of T.V. shows, food memoirs, and restaurant reviews. But as our attention focuses on Alton Brown, Ruth Reichl, the next top chef, and other highly respected people in modern food culture who are ultimately paid to eat, are we as middle and working class Americans really becoming “a gourmet” or foodie like the food idols we watch on T.V.. I say no. True foodie culture, is reserved for those select few who have the time and money or it is their job to dedicate them-selves to the best and highest quality food. Everybody gets some sort of enjoyment out of food and eating, but a true foodie tries to get the most out of each meal and only settles for the best ingredients, which often costs far greater than the average person can afford.
To begin, restaurant reviews like those written by Ruth Reichl focus mainly on the most elegant and expensive restaurants that the average middle class person might eat at once in a lifetime, if ever. Most restaurant reviews that are read in the paper and magazines are centered on restaurants where a single meal may cost a hundred dollars, which is far more than the average person is willing or able to pay for a single meal. Living in a middle class household I remember my mom complaining about spending a hundred dollars on groceries that would provide a week worth of food for our family of five. Thinking about spending that much money on a single meal for one person seems absolutely absurd, but that is easily what it would cost at any four star restaurant. No matter how much a person may enjoy eating fine food they must have the means in order to pay for it, and for the average American making roughly $42,000 a year, $36,500 (the amount of money it would cost to eat dinner at a four star restaurant every night at $100 a meal for a year) to spend on dinner alone for a year is utterly beyond reason and feasibility (World Salaries).
Furthermore, shows like Iron Chef and Top Chef do not help lower the prices of fine food, but may end up raising the prices of fine restaurants. As these shows promote some of the better chefs across the country, these fine restaurant cooks are advanced to celebrity level in both status and eventually pay. With current television culinary stars are already making celebrity pay; with Rachael Ray making 18 million a year and Iron Chef America’s own Bobby Flay making 1.5 million, it would not be surprising to see the average salary of chefs start to rise (Hurd). As these chefs begin to get paid more, restaurants must further increase the cost of their food to pay the salary of the person that is ultimately bringing in their business. Reading Ruth Reichls book Garlic and Sapphires brings to light the fact that high class restaurants are often recognized by their head chef and people will often try new restaurants because of a certain chef. Fine restaurants recognize this and may become forced to raise the salary of their highly renewed chef to keep from losing that chef and ultimately the business that may go with him or her. As television shows continue to raise the social status and recognition of certain chefs their salaries will rise to support their recognition and fame.
The argument that foodie culture has been bestowed upon the general public through the food channels depiction and education of high quality food that the middle class may not have known existed before watching these food shows may be true but it may also contribute to the rise in prices of the these already expensive foods. Most of the rare, elegant, sought after foodstuff that goes into that hundred dollar meal is expensive because it is rare and sought after, and increasing the demand as more people desire a certain spice, mushroom, or specially cared for beef will most likely further increase the price on that specialty item. As the limited supply of that product may become more sought after the price will go up to fit demand. A perfect example of this is the truffle mushroom. As the fame and popularity of this highly regarded fungus has grown over the years, prices have reached almost astronomical levels, with certain highly desired types costing well over a thousand dollars a pound (New World Truffieres, Inc). At prices reaching up to $3,000 a pound, (a thousand dollars more than I paid for my car) truffles and other similar food products that get put in high demand by American food celebrities are reserved for only the highest level of incomes. (New World Truffieres, Inc).
One way that middle and lower income families have been able to enjoy foodie culture over the years is good homemade from scratch meals. But recently this area of gourmet has increasingly dwindled from American society. Several factors have contributed to the decline of home cooking including current T.V. food shows, changing patterns in society, and high grocery prices for quality goods.
Today food and cooking television shows, which used to be a tool used by the past generation of due it yourself gourmets, to design perfect meals that wouldn’t break the bank, have now been replaced by shows like Iron Chef America. These shows do not offer any sort of instruction or guidance in cooking and preparing fine food, but rather intimidate anybody trying to prepare a fine meal with its fast pace and multiple dishes being prepared at once. Best described in Michael Pollan’s article Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch, trying to learn how to cook by watching primetime food shows is like trying to learn how to play basketball by watching the NBA (Pollan 4). Even daytime cooking shows aimed towards middle class stay at home moms have backed away from the idea of cooking for pleasure and preparing gourmet family dinners, and are now more concentrated on conveyance. When Julia Childs appeared on the French Chef in 1963 she introduced entire households of average American families to foodie culture without them having to go out and pay vast sums of money at a restaurant (Pollan 1-2). Today step by step cooking shows like those with Rachael Ray are not guiding the audience in the way of the gourmet like The French Chef was meant to, but instead offer quick easy store bought alternatives, that may save a little preparation time, but take away from a certain degree of quality and taste that comes from making a meal entirely from scratch. Small changes like these, aimed towards average Americans, take away both the quality and idea of cooking for pleasure and taste that appeal to a true foodie.
Another way, that foodie culture is more reserved for the higher socioeconomic class and one of the reasons cooking shows are concentrating more on conveyance is that in today’s society, more than in the past, people are working longer hours and there are less stay at home parents than in the past to spend large periods of time preparing food. With the average person spending 39.2 hours a week at work, middle class Americans who cannot afford to buy their way in to foodie culture at restaurants, have little time or energy to prepare indulgent luxurious meals for themselves or family, instead the average person will likely turn to a simpler and more timely meal in the form of pre-prepared food, simple one or two step dishes, or fast food. Whereas higher income people and families can afford to eat at high end expensive restaurants, have their own personal cook, or be financially capable of having one spouse to stay at home without a job and be able to spend time cooking elaborate meals.
Furthermore, the rising price of natural and high quality ingredients has also led to designation of foodie culture for the rich. Not only have processed and pre-prepared foods become quicker and easier sources of food they are also usually cheaper than buying fresh quality ingredients. It seems that as fresh ingredients have slowly been opted out by quicker alternatives, quality food items prices have risen or at least relatively. You can either go to the store and spend several dollars a pound on ground beef, a buck or two on buns, and few more on toppings and spend time at home preparing a burger, or you can go to McDonalds or Burger King and get a double cheese burger on your way home, for a dollar. Recognizing this, large chain grocery stores buy bulk, often low quality goods to keep prices modest, but in turn lower the standard and taste of ‘fresh products’. This in turn has led to the uproot of organic and higher grade food chains like Fresh Market and Whole Foods or as my mom calls it “Whole Paycheck”, which offer superior products at much higher prices, allowing the average person to shop at these places only on special occasions.
In all, high prices at fine restaurants, increased popularity and resignation of foodie culture brought by current food shows, time restrictions, and increased relative prices of quality groceries have led to a separation of socioeconomic groups in foodie culture.

Citation
"United States Average Salaries & Expenditures ." World Salaries. 2008. World Salaries, Web. 26 Oct 2009. .
"Truffle Cultivation." New World Truffieres, Inc. 2003. New World Truffieres, Inc, Web. 26 Oct 2009. .
Hurd , Rebbecca. "Highest Paid Celebrity Chefs." Newser. 13 Aug 2008. Newser, LLC, Web. 26 Oct 2009. .
Pollan, Michael. "Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch ." New York Times 29 Jul 2009: 1-9. Web. 26 Oct 2009. .