Hey all you Foodies
 

Did you become a foodie after traveling to Europe or were you one before you went?<BR>I for one, was not a serious one until I went to Italy. Now I am a connoisseur of cheese, salami, biscotti, wine, bread, and many more delectibles. I have even joined a wine club.<BR> Remember: Life is uncertain, eat dessert first.....<BR> Janda

Isn't the buffalo mozzarello just divine?!!

I was a foodie from way back, but feel so much more experienced having been a foodie in Europe.<BR>Cheese courses and seeing how many types of chocolate I can eat have definitely widened my horizons :) if not my hips!

So far, I have maintained foodie status without acquiring the fattie status:)<BR>But it can be difficult at times.<BR>To be a foodie, one really just appreciates really good food, from the way it is prepared to the way it tastes, where it came from, all about food!<BR>To stay slim is to be a smarty:)

I definitely became a lover of all foods fresh, unprocessed, natural and creatively prepared AFTER I moved abroad!

I became a foodie in 1982 when my husband gave me my first cookbook from Metropolitan Home. I just started experimenting and buying more cookbooks - Silver Palate was next. We then moved to Los Angeles where I became a Wolfgang Puck devotee - eating at Spago whenever I could. Now I have a room full of cookbooks and watch FoodTV religiously. BUT, nothing in the US has ever tasted as good as any of the food I've eaten in Europe. I lost my "foodie" desires when I came home and tried to recreate some simple dishes. It's just not the same..... I was more happy being blissfully ignorant. Now I dream of a simple plate of fresh arugula with a sprinkling of lemon juice and covered with shavings of parmesan cheese or a fresh chewey baguette with a cup of steaming coffee or a crispy crepe oozing with nutella, or a platter of fish & chips with smashed peas. <BR><BR>Now excuse me while I go make my shrimp salad with the crappy ingredients I just bought at the Safeway. Agony.

I'm sorry Red, but I feel little sympathy for someone living in a major California city who can find neither the best ingredients for cooking nor a restaurant serving authentic European fare. There is no way you cannot find "a<BR>simple plate of fresh arugula with a sprinkling of lemon juice and covered with shavings of parmesan cheese or a fresh chewey baguette with a cup of steming coffee or a crispy crepe oozing with nutella" unless you're not looking.<BR>Today I saw all of those (and I wasn't even looking) -- crepe w/nutella at place on Union Street; salad at Greens at Ft. Mason; chewy bread and good coffee are on nearly every corner.

Sam, I don't live in LA or California currently. Perhaps that is the problem.

Pick up the Food issue of The New Yorker for an interesting read. Also check out chowhound.com which is more like a proletariat foodie. <BR>

Mark, love your reference to Chowhounds as proletariat foodies. I think most of them would be proud of the characterization. <BR><BR>I certainly owe my foodiness to our European travel. I'm fond of saying that I came to gustatory awareness at the Restaurant Tirol in Innsbruck on our first trip to Europe in 1973. My husband and I ordered chateaubriand for two. The presentation was fabulous--a gigantic silver tray with the carved beef in the center surrounded by several different vegetable presentations, each perfectly prepared and wonderfully tasty. I was hooked. Couldn't take my eyes off anything coming out of (or even going back into) the kitchen. Wanted to try everything and have been doing so ever since. <BR>Europe was also where I first discovered markets and the glory of just observing food in its natural state. I plan whole trips around the opportunity to see markets. When I'm not eating or observing the real thing, I spend time reading about it--travel books/magazines with food references and cookbooks (Red, I share your regard for the Silver Palate cookbooks)--all because of that one wonderful meal in Innsbruck. Sigh!

This is a great thread. I am getting hungry just reading it. TTT

I think foodies could also be identified by the amount of subscriptions they have to Food Magazines! <BR>In my little magazine basket is Food & Wine, Bon Appetite and Gourmet. I try to control myself, I really do!

I agree with Red. Nothing tastes the same here. I've only been to Europe once visiting both and France and Italy.<BR>I've been spoiled for life! I do live in California, and its hard to find food that tastes as good. I think it has a lot to do with the soils and the way that the animals are raised here. <BR>Also everything has to be pasturized to keep us "safe". I'm sorry now that I know what cheese is supposed to taste like, I'd rather be a little unsafe!<BR>=)

I was born a foodie and therefore my fascination with "gourmet" food and cooking took me to Europe and the exploration of the many wonderful dishes they have. My fantasy was french food but I think the Italians may have won me over! (their men arn't too bad either!)

I’m really not picking on California, BUT the soil there seems to have been designed to produce the biggest, most beautiful fruits and vegetables on earth, all nearly devoid of flavor. I don’t know why that is but it seems to be true of virtually everything grown there. Melons are better from the South, tomatoes and such from the Midwest, peaches, cherries are better grown anywhere else.<BR><BR>California does grow good grapes and avocados. As for everything else, it would be hard to be a fresh foodie in California.<BR>

I beg to differ, I met a few fresh foodies in California!!

Problem with a lot of produce in America is that it's 'designed' to look good instead of taste good. Tasting good means a more fragile, easily bruised product which incurs expensive packaging and transport. And as for our hormone USDA beef - don't get me started. If you've ever had Argentinian steak you'll know what I mean......<BR><BR>I still remember my moment of conversion - a friend took me to Gotham bar & Grill for my 30th birthday. I had foie gras and venison - almost 9 years later, I can still recall the thrill and delight of that meal. Even with all the high end dining I've done in NYC, dining in Europe is better. Call it atmosphere, ambience, sophistication - I don't know - but the overall experience is better in Europe. Don't get me wrong - I've had some great meals in NYC - but then I walk outside and get a whiff of that NYC atmosphere, the magic can fade quickly. Something about strollling down a tree lined, cobble stone street that is far more alluring. Add to that the sound of a foreign language and somehow I feel so removed from my daily existence... ahh, sweet redemption.

I am European and I always thought that US food was the synonym of hamburgers, fat, junkfood etc.<BR>But now I've been there and I kwow I was wrong. You have excellent food. I am shure that we can't make salads like you do. <BR>And...even your hamburgers are much tastyer than ours. <BR>The main difference is that in Europe the portions are more modest...and yes, Mark, the atmosphere...

Great thread, but so funny! As an American expat in Switzerland, I can't tell you how many times I have heard "Oh, I miss the food in America!" These (and there are many!) are the people who drag Velveeta, Tollhouse chocolate chips (to Switz!)and Kraft mac and Cheese back in their luggage. They also complain of the "stinky' cheese and the fact that the cheddar is not orange. Sometimes, the culinary experience of living or visiting here is just not appreciated...<BR><BR>To answer the question, we were foodies before we came over. We lived in Seattle, and they do have some wonderful produce and seafood there. Some of the things I miss are the best apples in the world, great hot smoked salmon and fresh Alaskan halibut cheeks!<BR>cheers!<BR>Jan

I think you're born a foodie; sometimes, you just don't know it for a while. You eat your mother's cooking, eat at family restaurants, eat school food...then, maybe, you visit some aunt when you're about 12, and she cooks blueberry kuchen. Suddenly, you have your first glimpse into the parallel food universe...<BR><BR>I was a foodie from the age of 12 (see "blueberry kuchen"), but got more so as I got older. The quantum leap came in 1989 when I made my first trip to Paris. It's been uphill since then.