Foodie vs Foodiot: No one cares about my cheese? But it's artisan!

So, I was procrastinating and reading archived entries of this awesome, local food blog Fidel Gastro and I saw how he highlighted an article from the New York Observer in 2009 about how the culture of food has changed since the advent of the organic/slow food/local food movement. The author of the article, Joe Pompeo, went on to discuss how there is an over saturation of talk about food and what we're eating and how we meticulously document everything we are "shoving down [our] pie holes". He went on to indicate that no one cares about the awesome artisanal cheese we, the foodies/foodiots, get our hands on or how we paid for the feed for a pig that will be slaughtered at the end of a year (a venture that I am attempting and will get back to you about if it actually comes to fruition).  He also says that most people are discusted and grossed out by all the talk of food and are pretty tired of it.

This hit home and really irked me. I consider myself a foodie and am always afraid that I am crossing that line between foodie and just annoying/boring/grossing people out with my talk of food. I love food. And I think more and more that the average person cares more about not only what they are eating but where it comes from and I don't think it's a bad thing as Pompeo implies. I think that the more people care about what they eat and where it comes from the more the industries that supply and produce food are forced to care. I think that a lot of the foods marketed as natural and organic are using the term as a marketing ploy instead of a movement in better, healthier, and more sustainable ways to produce food. I think if the public starts caring more, prices will start to become more competitive and that maybe organic will become the new mandate instead of a choice for those who care/can afford it. To me, it is a crime that healthy, fresh food is more expensive than packaged "food" and is a huge contributing factor to the so called "obesity epidemic".

One of the things I have struggled with in the creation of this blog is whether or not I wanted to have it be a "food blog" specifically or have more of a blog with foodie posts, or just not include food at all in my contributions to the blogosphere. I have read a lot of successful blogs, some of which I will highlight when and if I try recipes from them or springboard posts from things they write (like Fidel Gastro mentioned above). There is also the fact that so many of them document their dining experiences outside their own kitchens and how they have really high quality cameras they take to restaurants with them. I have been debating whether or not to do this and chose not to (alike in one of my first posts about El Rey where I detail the food and restaurant but have no pictures). I read somewhere, I forget where now, how some chefs/restaurateurs think that people are obnoxious taking pictures of their food or posting blogs about their dining experiences. I would really hate to put the people who work so hard for me to eat so well in an awkward or unwanted position, but I also want to share and publicize the best places to eat in my fair city.

Oh the conundrum! The choices! The decisions! I guess this will have to be a continuing struggle and ultimately determined by how good my camera is. Hint hint T ;).

PS I agree with Senor Gastro, Joe Pompeo can suck it.

I can't really come up with a cohesive thought...

So, I am having difficulty coming up with any real interesting topic to talk about, so i think i am going to do a bit of what my English teacher in college used to call "free writing". What she would tell us to do was to just write whatever came into your head. Of course, it was "guided free writing", so we were supposed to prattle on about some literary topic like what Faulkner was getting at in "The Sound and the Fury" or why Morrison's Beloved was so effed up and weird (both some of my favorite favorite works of fiction ever. yeah take that Myer you hack...easy, the time is not right...anyway where was I? oh yeah real writers and free writing) So, here goes:

I never really understood why some couples are together. I mean, I am with my boyfriend because I love him, we get a long really well, and he totally gets me. Some couples, it just seems like there is no real reason why they should have ever gotten together in the first place, let alone continue to be together for freakin' years and then get married and make other unhappy people. Just doesn't make any sense to me.

I have gone into another one of my phases where I have decided I want to be thinner but i want to expend as little effort and discomfort as possible. So, I have piggybacked this new idea with my desire to be more thrifty and have come up with a plan! Before, we would go out to eat at least once during the work week and both days of the weekend and then order take out for two or three other nights of the week. Instead, I have decided to bring my lunch to work (lean cuisines, smart ones, healthy choice etc. all frozen and quick and ready to go) and cook healthy dinners for me and T all during the work week. Then, have one semi-indulgent meal during the weekend. This has been quite successful for going on our 4th week now. So far we have saved around $400. And, I've lot some weight...not nearly enough but these thing take time.

The English teacher I mentioned above was one of the best English teachers I have ever had, but she was loonier than a fruit basket. She was a total cat lady and a feminist. She actually changed her name back to her maiden name when she got her PhD in women's lit. She would always wear over-sized t-shirts and sweatshirts, usually with pictures of cats on them. I remember one was almost the exact same one I had in elementary school; white with a big cat face outlined in black but with bright green eyes. Weird the things you remember. She was the one who really got me into reading real literature like Faulkner and O'Connell and Morrison. I also took Woman's lit (clit lit as the kids used to call it)and discovered how awesome and creepy women writers can be. MJ, I miss you and your wacktastic self.

(I just noticed that i really, really like to use parentheses when i write...and ellipses. not sure why but i am pretty sure that i always have, much to the chagrin of my English teachers)

At work, it seems like i keep surprising the people I work with; that i am surpassing what they thought i could do. At first this was pretty cool, but now i am starting to think that they did not think i was as good at my job as i am and that i am surprising them more than impressing them. Maybe i am wrong, i mean i am on the paranoid side when it comes to what i think other people think of me, ask any of my friends and they will tell you i have always been this way. When i was younger i always used to think everyone was mad at me when really they were just living their lives thinking we were best friends. I have gotten into more than one stupid fight because i thought people were mad at me when they weren't. I think I am going to avoid that and just think that my coworkers/bosses are impressed and leave it at that.


Okay, i think that's enough, I am tired now.