"Lexluther, I agree that one does need to spend lots of money in order to have wonderful food experiences..."

Not in Italy you don't. Having a wonderful food experience starts from having the right ingredients - good, tasty, fresh fruit and vegetables, for example. When touring in Italy, you go to a baker and get a fresh bread roll sliced open, go next door to the butcher and get some sliced prosciutto and/or cheese to put on the bread, buy some olives, and you've got lunch. Not expensive, not difficult, but definitely delicious.

USNR, I guess everyone has to diet in their own way, but what a pity to entirely give up things you like. In spite of all the scary stuff in the news, almost nothing you eat is bad for you, if you eat it in reasonable doses. Having bacon every day is probably a bad idea. But I adore bacon, and, when I can get it, happily indulge in the occasional fry-up or BLT. I tend to save my fried foods eating for restaurants, since I don't fry much at home (don't like the smell in the house afterward). Chocolate? Wouldn't give it up for the world, but neither do I eat it every day or even very week. It kinda comes and goes in phases, often PMT related.

We don't eat much red meat, I'll make a roast or something once or twice a week. Many of our meals are vegetarian, not out of any particular conviction, but just because I like to make and eat creative dishes with Italy's wonderful vegetables. Last November, visting relatives in Texas, I was pleased to find that I could reproduce my dishes pretty faithfully with produce from the local HEB - hallelujah! Americans have finally learned to appreciate good veggies, so they are readily available.

Food shouldn't be a question of indulgence vs. sacrifice. It's just a matter of balance. I love brownies, from a yummy recipe that Cristina (expatsinitaly.com) gave me, but when I make them I tend to scarf the whole pan unless physically restrained. So I just don't make them very often. Then I hide them from everybody else. <grin>

And now I'm really hungry and will have to make some breakfast. Wish I had some bacon...


best regards,
Deirdré Straughan

http://www.straughan.com

Moving from right to left, there is an invisible line which a person crosses from being a "foodie" to being a glutton.

Case in point: sitting watching TV, spoon in hand, eating peanut butter (Skippy Super Crunchy) direct from the jar. Or eating ice cream direct from the gallon carton until the bottom appears as if by magic. You know the excuse: "the ice cream made me do it."

So we must define a "foodie" as a person who discriminates, eats well but with taste (no pun intended), and with moderation. One who tries something new, does not turn up his/her nose at the untried, and who can tolerate others who may not share their appetites. Example: you may like guacamole while he/she can't stand it, or you may crave liver and bacon while he/she may think such stuff should have no place on the table. Enjoy. Share. Digest in peace.

Deidre, I am in complete agreement with you - you can eat whatever you like in moderation. Does anyone remember an old thread about how the French smoke, drink and eat rich foods but have lower rates of heart disease than Americans? Answer: everything in moderation.

I am now going to have a bar of Cadbury's chocolate. But then, I haven't had any chocolate for about 2 weeks.

Hi Jane,

Where did you go looking for your crab cake?

Good for you, USNR.

Chepar"a good example of a foodie is Anthony Bourdain "
Couldn't disagree more!
No smoker can be a real foodie!

Ira-
Best crab cake was at a trying-to-be-gourmet-restaurant on the way from Tallahassee to the coast. The grits & mullet crowd didn't support it. I was brought up on Dungeness crab, so I am very picky. Little pun there for the poorly picked crab on the east coast.

>No smoker can be a real foodie!<

Poo. Pish tosh. Nonsense.

Cuban cigars and old port or brandy.

Hi janeg

>Best crab cake was at a trying-to-be-gourmet-restaurant on the way from Tallahassee to the coast. The grits & mullet crowd didn't support it.<

Of course. What do they know?

>I was brought up on Dungeness crab, so I am very picky. Little pun there for the poorly picked crab on the east coast.<

Oh, you poor dear. I take it that you have never had a Wye River Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab, properly steamed in Old Bay seasoning, picked by women whose great grandmothers taught them how and prepared by honest chefs who gently sauteed the crab cakes (prepared with soda crackers) in bacon fat and butter.

Ira-
Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab
Just had it where you pound it yourself at big tables. We dungeness girls are princesses & those pitiful blue crabs ain't worth the work. Must plan my next California trip around the season.

&gt;<i>Imagine a cooked breakfast where the sausages are wrapped in italian ham</i>

That's not a foodie, that's someone with a death wish.

Clifton, thanks again for the chuckle. I still snicker over your Scandinavia comments from way back when.

I am far too timid an eater to ever be considered a foodie, but I do like quality ingredients and have great respect for those who can turn them into a wonderful meal.

I like to eat food that's in season and preferably locally grown, including when I travel. I mean, it's sorta cool that I can get blueberries from Chile in the middle of winter, but they sure don't taste anything like the ones from New Jersey in July. Same goes for corn, strawberries, new potatoes, mache lettuce.

Back in the day when I was single, a guy I briefly dated--a self-described &quot;foodie&quot;--took me to an Afghan restaurant. It was fine. I probably had chicken kababs or whatever the least adventurous thing was on the menu. I remember being perplexed when he used the phrase &quot;foodies like us&quot;. I couldn't imagine who he was talking about.

Hi janeg

&gt;Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab
Just had it where you pound it yourself at big tables.&lt;

Where?

&gt;We dungeness girls are princesses &amp; those pitiful blue crabs ain't worth the work.&lt;

We were, I belive talking about crab *cakes*. I shall not try to discuss the ritual of properly cooking, picking and eating a Blue Crab.

Nor shall I mention soft shell crabs.

I love soft shell crabs, pity it's such a short season. we cook them whenever we can buy them

Ira &amp; Ciga...
I ate the crabs some place a long time ago on the Maryland coast. The real thing. I tried to cook soft shell crabs once. A disaster. Tasted like I had left the cellophane wrap on.

&gt;I tried to cook soft shell crabs once. A disaster. Tasted like I had left the cellophane wrap on. &lt;

Unfortunately, you had been given crabs that had been too long past their molting point. The crab shell had become too hard.

It really doesn't matter anymore. The Bay has been overfished. Most of the crabs in Maryland come from the Gulf.

Forget all this talk about picking through crab meat. Come to Florida and experience Stone Crab Claws. You get the rock hard thick shells pre-cracked, and scoop out huge hunks of the most delicious crab meat ever. None of that scraping and digging to get tiny morsels of meat. All they do is pull the claws off the live crabs and throw them back to grow another one.

Hi Patrick,

Oh Yeah?

Shows what you know. :)

So Ira, Ciga..., Patrick &amp; I are crabby foodies!

Brava.

I appreciate a good meal and a good bottle of wine, but today I almost paid 19euro for a burger at Harry's Bar in Florence. Does anyone know where I can get a good burger in Florence? When you have a craving, nothing else will do.

StephenG &gt;No smoker can be a real foodie!&lt;

And why not?

Cepar
Because the members of this board have decreed that smoking is intolerable and you can't be a member of any of the good stuff. You are also excluded if you are fat or take anything larger than a 22 in rolly bag for a vacation, despite its length. Tennies are bad form too. We have lots of rules and if you don't agree with us, you are insolent, indolent, incorrigible, sub specied and probably eat on paper plates.
After that, I need a nap. or another hurricane.

I_Jackson, I'm not sure about the burgers, but while standing right in the Florence train station waiting to change trains which were delayed, the smell got to me and I went over to a counter and bought what might have been the best frites I've ever had anywhere -- and I've had some good ones. The place was called MacDonald's.

And Patrick, guess what? Calvin Trillin, the foodie writer, agrees with you!

IIRC, La Princepessa did not.

Thank you for all the responses.

Today I was led from the IHT to http://www.chowhound.com/and this quote:

&quot;Everyone has one in his or her life: the brother-in-law with a collection of 800 takeout menus, the coworker who's always late from lunch because she HAD to trek to one end of town for the best soup and to the other for the best sandwich. Chowhounds know where the good stuff is, and they never settle for less than optimal deliciousness, whether dining in splanky splendor or grabbing a quick slice of pizza. They are the one in ten who live to eat.

We're not talking about FOODIES. Foodies eat where they're told; they eagerly follow trends and rarely go where Zagat hasn't gone before. Chowhounds, on the other hand, blaze trails, combing gleefully through neighborhoods for hidden culinary treasure. They despise hype, and while they appreciate refined ambiance and service, they can't be fooled by mere flash.&quot;

The IHT also led to Zagat and Michelin. You can get a 30 day subscription to Zagat for $3.95. Sounds like a good deal for anyone who wishes to plan.

chepar, I recently returned from France. I had my French friend make reservations for us at an orgaanic farm resto months in advance. Everything was wonderful except for a guy at the next table who smoked cigar after cigar through each course and drove the butterflies away who were hovering over the herbs in the garden

Sometimes I'd like to slap an arrogant guy like that silly!

I'd like to smash his cigar in his face...:)

Boy, that felt so, so good! Now what's for dessert?

cigerette tapas followed by cigars perfumed with truffles.

and followed by dessert. mashed tabacco mixed with orange rind and creme fraiche.

I think I want to throw up!

Hmmm I thought you asked for that menu? :)

Seriouly now, Chepar, the smell of someone smoking when diners are eating is really foul and it really does change the taste of food for the smoker.
Also most smokers,
if they do so heavily, have their clothes reeking of their habit. I could tell which co-workers were behind me in an elevator by their cigarrete smells.

I was told recently that if a cigar is a really &quot;good&quot; one it won't have that terrible offensive odor.
I wouldn't know, because if DH wants to smoke one he has to go on the patio.
As to the previous posts.........urghhhhhh. I think I need to hurl!!!!!!! :-)

Lol, sorry Anne, I was trying to say dining and smoking do not go together, after dinner, it's perfectly ok for your husband to smoke at the table.

Ira: Just read your &quot;La Princepassa&quot; post. I can't remember all the details--for example,did he and the girls try different MacDonalds in Paris as part of their best pommes frittes survey, too? I have that book somewhere in a box in the basement--should dig it out for my teens to read.

I have not read any book by Trillin since his wife (Alice) died. Someone told me he recently did a hysterical article on the guy the Seinfeld Soup Nazi was supposedly modelled upon (whoa--convoluted sentence!!), so I have something else to add to the reading list.

IIRC,
McD's was found to be good, but there was some place outside Paris that outdid them.

It might have had something to do with blanching in vegetable oil and a final fry with goose fat added.

The quote jsmith provided from chowhound's site made me laugh. It seems they are desperate for the word chowhound not to be seen as just a brand synonym for foodie.

Ignoring their attempt to elevate their own concept I'd agree with some of the point they are making.

I'll ask for recommendations of restaurants for destinations we're visiting and will also read guide books for additional recommendations but I will not centre our plans around the dining options. Rather, I like to have some recommendations up my sleeve incase we are in a particular area come meal time and are either unable to choose between a range of restaurants or unable to find one we think will be nice. But generally we choose mostly according to what we like the look of and occasionally according to recommendations we glean from locals we ask on arrival.