SUPP UP. Self-Reliance Articles

Here’s a guest contribution from one of our SUPP UP. Social members, Fun foodie Forager & More.

Fun foodie Forager & More writes:

“Well, it's the 'foodie' aspect that cranks up on a whim to uncover,

discover a new taste or create with ingredients.

Now, the definition(s) foodie according to Cambridge dictionary is:

Foodie refers to one that loves food and very interested in different types of foods.

Then there is this statement posted on The Kitchn.com

“Some think it's a compliment, an acknowledgment of a passionate interested in food.

Others consider it a pejorative, an insult.

A foodie is frivolous and trend-following and not to be taken seriously” (7)

And this statement: -

“Just like everyone with a digital camera thinks they are a

photographer, everyone who likes to eat seems to call themselves a foodie.

I'm sorry, but just because you like to eat, doesn't mean you are a foodie – it probably means you need to go to the gym.

Wow!

I know there are school of thoughts, but geez.

Somewhere out there, must be a balance of energies when it comes to comments which don't take the fun of the word “foodie.”

Wait, now, just wait! May have found what resonates with me by

Oxford Dictionary: -

a person with a particular interest in food; a gourmet.

“He is an avid foodie and successful restaurateur”

Collins Dictionary: -

a person having an enthusiastic interest in the preparation and consumption of fine foods, esp. in restaurants.

And last but. Not least,

Oed.com:-

A person with a particular interest in food; a gourmet.

Sometimes distinguished from ‘gourmet’ as implying a broad interest in all aspects of food procurement and preparations [1980.](https://www.oed.com/dictionary/foodien?tl=true)_

Lining my choices of definitions in order of preference would be  Ode.com and Collins Dictionary.

Outside of all the newbies that may equate or have equated their definition of foodie as non-sexy, depressing, and a darn right non-sensical blub (adj), may not see the beauty in what they call a dis-tasteful foodie abject.

Brace yourselves!

When I looked out yonder, there and behold, in my discovery of research I knew, I just knew there was a story of Light.

This story of Light, for me, is in knowing when women as their authentic, unique selves with fortitude, cut a path of interest in what they love, it shows a certain type of power within. (1)

I’m on the pinnacle of revealing this balance of energies here, moving it away from the not so encouraging articles.

To put forth, front and centre“ its origins of 1980.  “FOODIE” (10)

For some this era may be unbeknownst to them, and others, well, they’ll either, have fond memories of that year known for its’ fashion. The year that inspired power dressing among career driven women. Love it or hate it! ( (1980s in fashion, n.d.)

It’s really a hoot, when I think about it, because ‘Foodie’ also came on the scene by none other than a woman, Gael Greene!  Where in the Metropolitan of New York, this woman who originally did not consider the offer of becoming a Restaurant Critic, gave wake to her new profession, downed in beautiful hats, which was her personal iconic branding.

In many ways, as this is written in 2024. Gael Green’s 40 years as the first Food Critic, “Foodie”, would be seen as a person that had empowered a woman of 1968. (4)

Gael Green gave a sassy, spunky, twist on restaurant reviews, with humor, creating a sense of sensuality, personal flair, unique intrigue and criticism. A type of flamboyance of glamour and prominence, that can ruffle a few feathers (2)

She unveiled, food of chefs, gave recognition to chefs for her readers, that normally few knew. Chefs that created with home-grown, free-range ingredients, wild mushrooms like Chef Alfred Portale (8)

This awareness stretched the cooking imagination with ideas within the everyday home food preparation.

Gael’s articles piqued the curiosity of women, that wanted to experience flavors from regions of the globe, restaurants, both upscale, and smaller establishments. Grocery suppliers, demand for supply expanded and shelves offered variety never known to the likes of New Yorker housewives.

You see, women were responsible for the meals in the home, and even as social media today, shows a populace of more men on YouTube cooking. For those reading, just know this! Men did not easily accept the thought of knowing their peers may have tied an apron to their waist in the home 1968. Unless he was a chef!

It’s today one of the many reasons, the evolution of dining out for families has transversed, from a time where women, as housewives, also stepped into the role of becoming career women in 1980.

This explosion of culinary taste, where doors swung open to those same career women. Women sort the affordability of balance between home cooking to picking an entire fresh cooked meal of their choice. Prepared, packaged and parcelled from their restaurant of convenience. Mothers, conscious of their checkbook even subscribed to writing Gael, on choices of restaurants where a teen may acquire and taste the classic delicacies of food.

Those that had envisioned becoming chefs in America, had found a way to create themselves. If it wasn’t in the kitchen, it was in the literary form, of cookbooks, unions of like-minded, celebrating all things foodie and more. (11)

Gael Green writings introduced many to these faces, that may have stayed a secret or shrouded in a veil for us foodies today.

A 1968 Food Critic as a woman, circumvented the globe and showing many chefs, restaurants and foods, Americans may not ever been exposed. Think on this for a sec. Just maybe, Gael's profession, has impressed  and inspired so many women, that Restaurants galleys, have grown with prospective female chefs of the Industry.

If I may say myself, “Foodie” as described in the context of negativity by the few, have no credence. They have taken, and distorted through a limited lens of perspective, while dis-empowering the very essence of what began in 1980 when the term was originally credited to Gael Green. (5)

Am I a proud “Foodie” by the standards of Gael Green along with the contribution of those American Chefs’ highlighted in the writings of Gael Green. You bet; It’s a compliment, as I create foods, explore the epic global culinary of cultural foods in my preparation.

And if one thinks 1968 did not come without skepticism from some, for a woman who revered courage, glamour and gumption at the helm of her ship, only to be (referenced as a little housewife), well, think again. (6)

Gael used not only her knowledge as a Foodie, Restaurant Critic, author, philanthropist and educator, but built friendships favored or otherwise, where a partnered relationship in the business of food led to feeding the home-bound elderly of New York City. (3) (13)

Gael’s love of food, even as a young girl knew that dinners dining out at Atlantic Garden compared to dinners at home roused within her a journey for more of Atlantic Garden flavors.(12)

That journey with her love of food and the profession as a Restaurant Reviewer collided 1968. Her four-decade profession of gastronomy, whether titillating, or lustreless to the olfactory senses of the tongue tuned and refined her connection to the energy vibrations of foods and its’ relation and connection to the senses. Like the sensory of touch to sex.

In 2022 on Nov 1st, Galen Green at 88 years young transcended, leaving an indelible impression on the restauranteur industry, chefs, people, and families by sharing her stories, life, recipes, journeys and travels

Hell, Gael Green built a legacy, and the word “Foodie” was termed because of her work as a Restaurant Food Critic.  That doesn’t sound like the frivolous trend to me.

So, eat crow those that say and have written such folly pertaining to “Foodie” as frivolous and trend-following and not to be taken seriously.

To quote Sol, “Eat for a Purpose”.

Citations:

(1) (But could she be trusted? How Gael Greene altered the course of restaurant criticism, 2022)

(2) (Gael Greene, Detroit-born New York magazine restaurant critic and humanitarian, has died, n.d.)

(3) (About Gael Greene, n.d.)

(4) (Green, 2019)

(5) (Gael Greene Magazine Collection1968-2008 MSS.392, n.d.)

(6) (Schillinger, 2006)

(7) (Velden, 2011)

(8) (http://insatiable-critic.com/Article.aspx?ID=3319&keyword=Alfred%e2%80%99s+World, 2019)

(9) (Green, Where to Eat in the Millennium, 2000)

(10) (Green, Le Bernardin Beguiles Our Crocodile, 1986)

(11) (Green, Chefs Celebrate a Celebration of How They Created Themselves, 2018)

(12)  (Green, My Life Eating: Coming of Age in Detroit , 2020)

(13) (Oh, 2023)

“Foodies,” Sex, and Chefs. is a guest contributed article by SUPP UP. Social member Fun foodie Forager & More.

Interested in sharing a self-reliance article as a member of SUPP UP. Social? Let me know and I’ll consider it for publishing! Contact me on Moderator@supp-up.social.

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