Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Foodie..er..whats the name!


                                     
                                                                        Source: thejunkhouse.blogspot.com via Brie on Pinterest


This post has been picked up for BlogAdda's Spicy Saturday Picks. Whatte surprise!



At one point of time in my life, I was declared to be on dangerously low weight. Though it was not for long, I have had serious eating problems as a child. Always raised a demur against food, I was not exactly amma’s favourite activity.

The early years were not very exciting too, as for more than ten years – my family never ordered anything specifically for me. Thus was my tryst with food, ordering and eating out. The last four years have been a pleasant reversal, though. A lot of my friends know I love food – both to cook and to eat. It surprises so many when I say, that I cook! Interestingly, no one really expects a single 24 year old to be able to cook different things, and hate instant noodles.

What is particularly funny is how the exact same people have already determined I should be married by now. If I have no ability to fetch myself a decent, healthy meal, how exactly should I do/handle a marriage? Yea, I do know many women get married without an idea of cooking  and that cooking is not exactly organic chemistry. But, the determination baffles me. Totally.

As always, I digress. This post is not on my take on cooking/marriage but on how this change over has made life different today. I have certainly become a much responsible eater.  I was never really into making my own cup of tea before 2008, but yea – I was barely 22 then. What started as a learning curve, has become a way of exploring, experimenting and enjoying food. As a bonus, I have qualified to be called as a foodie!
Now, I have serious issues with this word. For one, it conjures the image of someone who hogs meals and searches for expensive options. For another, it is directly seen in relation with my waistline. I detest my own line there, but it is true. Promise.

The word foodie hardly represents what fellow people like me think about food. We are not eaters.  It is very hard to find a so called foodie who will eat anything on the plate. As a matter, most people are good cooks.  A few things, I have to say on being a foodie -

·        A foodie or whatever the person is called,  has a passionate interest on food and participates enthusiastically in the preparation and consumption of good food.  The act is not merely a means of survival ( as some chronic diet freaks do ) nor is an act of necessity ( as some really really busy people call it). 
·        We do eat out, at least I do – but love our food. It is savoured, tasted well and time/efforts are invested to find the best place, pay the best value and be mindful.
·        There is this charm about eating for pleasure. Biting into a pannacotta when the world is trying to stick to guts with roti- chawal, or wiping up a rasam-curry meal after a long day at 11pm when you may crash with maggi noodles. 
·        Then, there is this thing about exploring. We normally love to walk around food markets, click pictures, taste stuff, peep and see new cuisines being cooked, read memoirs, talk to people etc. And yes, IKEA is a great time pass place.

And yes, after we are done with our meal, we do go ahead with other things in life – like a full time job, or an intolerable kid or an almost there deadline (!). Like me. Like now. I have earlier written on food, places, philosophy with food ( I know ! ) etc. Click here to read/see/ogle at them!
         

12 comments:

  1. I like your definition of a foodie!! I am not a hogger.. but I travelled 2 hrs to go to my favourite restaurent here, and for 45 minutes for a small frankie(Finally)! Its about appreciating and savouring what goes into the mouth, not letting anything and everything get inside it!
    In the same note, I dont think I can understand people who dont cook. I know a girl who quit her job because everything was too much to handle, despite having a cook. Now, she stands next to the cook and tells her how to cut vegetables .. it would be interesting to further analyse her.

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  2. High time for a new word :) Quitting a job, to learn to cook - must surely be interesting!

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  3. LOL I can write a post long comment here for this but I already wrote one on my blog :D. Normally I dont do this but I think you might enjoy the post "We Live to eat" in my blog. Again I feel bad for advertising in a comment but it seemed very relevant ;)

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  4. Lovely post, thanks for you comments in my blog, which lead me here to find a beautiful space...

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  5. No wonder Woman are born multi-taskers! and I totally get it when yo tell people you love cooking and they assume you are cueing them about your desire to get hooked! I associate with your journey and I for one did not know anything about cooking except coffee (since I cannot live without it, till today!) and landing in Singapore (where vegetarianism is seen as a cult,by d way) has made me dig up my own delicacies and I must say I am one proud cook! :) :)

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  6. Very good post and I like your definition of a "foodie" - Need to propagate the definition out to the world :)!

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  7. Lovely post.. Being a foodie and also a person who not only loves eating each and everything served on platter but also love cooking , I could very well connect to the post.
    Well written :)

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  8. Aparna - Thanks :) SG life has made all of us stellar midnight cooks!

    Padhu, Santosh - :), whack the next person who calls a foodie a glutton!

    Ravindra - Thanks :) Do you cook , as well?

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  9. Being an absolute foodie myself who blogs about food (twice a week), I simply love this post and agree to all points mentioned. Good one Archana..

    Siri

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  10. I started reading your post, but it is making me hungry now! Will read the rest after lunch :)

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    Replies
    1. Did you come back and finish? Will mail you the question paper, finish panni anupu!

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