Ever since I was old enough to eat solids, I’ve always been passionate about food. Besides a good book and great sex, there are few things in this life that give me more unalloyed, close-your-eyes-and-groan pleasure that a really good meal. I tell people in all seriousness that if they can’t decide what to get me for a birthday present, I’d much prefer that they took me out to a good restaurant. I think it’s fair to say that food is deeply important to me.
Having said that, I only recently dared to dabble in the culinary arts myself. After a couple of failed attempts at cooking in my teens, I built up the idea that it was a really hard, really technical skill and I just shied away from it, preferring to leave it to the experts. Then one day I picked up a copy of Nigel Slater’s Real Food and decided to have a go. I ended up making a really quite decent apple pie from scratch (I even made the pastry), and my family were quite surprised at how well it turned out. I’ve never looked back.
Now I find that cooking is a pleasure and something I genuinely enjoy doing. I find the process relaxing and I love taking a bunch of disparate, seemingly innocuous ingredients and somehow magically combining and transforming them into a meal full of love, warmth and flavour. Presenting someone you care about with a meal you made just for them is one of the ultimate acts of love, and I honestly believe that a family that eats together is all the stronger for it.
I make a pretty bitchin’ risotto and some lovely creamy-garlicky-mushroomy orrechiette pasta with thyme that will make you curl your toes with orgasmic pleasure as you tuck into a steamy plateful on a cosy winter evening.
I’d love to be REALLY good however, and make something quite challenging like the deliciously rich and crispy duck with honey-roasted apples I had at the weekend. If I can make something that good, only then can I start to call myself a cook. And if I ever won the lottery you can bet I’d spend a chunk of it on my dream kitchen.
So who else is passionate about food? What does it mean to you and do you enjoy cooking or just eating?
If you saw my belly you’d know where I stand on this issue. I’ve been trying to lose weight, and so I’ve found a good plan that still allows me to cook and eat the yum.
I don’t read novels. I read cookbooks. I don’t watch sitcoms. I watch Food Network. I don’t go to movies. I go to restaurants.
You might want to consider subscibing to Gourmet magazine. Every issue has recipes that are sure to impress, and you’ll hone you cooking skills quickly or die trying.
tdn nailed it. All of my entertainment is food based.
When at a mall the first thing I do is look for a Willam Sonoma or a Penzys. I save spare change so that every so often I can afford truffles or fois gras without feeling guilty. I’ll happily babysit a pot of stock for 12 hours or more just so I can spend a good part the next day making demi glace.
I’m not a foodie. I eat because I have to, not because I really enjoy it. Sure, I appreciate a fine-tasting meal, but for practical puposes, a cheeseburger and fries from McDonalds is just fine.
I don’t like to cook because there is just Hubby and me. Making a meal with all of the side-dishes is simply too much effort and I know that the left-overs will wind up in the garbage after cluttering up the 'fridge for a week or so. Since I’ll only use part of the ingredients, they’ll go to waste, too.
If one of you fine entreprenurial Dopers would start a service where a hot, great-tasting meal could be delivered to my home, I’ll be your best customer.
I am a dedicated foodie. A weekend of entertainment for me is trying a half dozen wines, making a new kind of sausage from scratch, watching three discs of Good Eats, and hunting down just the right ingredients all over NYC.
Despite all of this, I am just the “kitchen assistant” in my household. My father in law is a world class chef, and he has passed on much of his knowledge and skills to my wife.
As you know if you read the boards, I’m a foodie too. We moved about seven years ago to the bay area of California, and my obsession as exploded as a result. This is foodie central, crammed with farmers’ markets, bistros, trattorias, ethnic restaurants from all over the globe, you name it.
My idea of a fun Saturday is to drive up the 'nince, hit a huge Whole Foods in Los Altos, pop in to Crossroads International Market, then to Dittmer’s German deli. Grab some lunch in Santa Clara at Blue Stone Korean tofu restaurant, and then home to cook up something terrific (and probably Italian) from the grocery shopping trip.
On Sunday, I like to go to the Los Gatos farmers’ market and have a stand-up oyster feast from Bill the oyster guy, and then pick up any vegies or fruits I may have missed on the previous day’s trip. There’s a fabulous patisserie in LG called Fleur de Cocoa, and it makes the very best croissants in the U.S., in my opinion. That place gets hit, too.
I skimp in other areas, like: I buy cheaper clothes, I don’t get my nails done, I drive a non-gas-guzzling compact, and we never go out to movies. One has to have the right priorities!
Another foodie checking in.
It is nearly impossible to live in this area and not be one.
My husband and I spend weekends at farmer’s markets, wineries, specialty shops, delis, etc. We’re members of our local CSA during the season. We try to buy fresh and local whenever possible. We love to cook and we love to eat out. The Ferry Building is a must stop whenever we’re in San Francisco. We window shop together at Sur La Table and the local equivalent. When we did briefly have cable, Food Network was about all we watched.
We’re always looking for something new to try, a new cheese, a new wine, a new restaurant, a new bakery, whatever. Sure we’ve got our favorites, but we are constantly on the hunt.
This past week the man’s been on a ‘Mario Batali’ kick.
Let’s see, I love cooking and eating out, trying new ingredients, going to farmers’ markets and gourmet grocery stores, two of my favorite places in Philadelphia are Reading Terminal and the Italian Market, so, yep, foodie.
But I’m not even in the same class as this guy, who moved to a new NYC apartment because he was tired of the food in his old neighborhood.
I buy lots of cookbooks and food magazines. I started to call them food porn. I noticed other people online use the term. I consider myself a foodie but I wouldn’t call myself a gourmet.
Total foodie. Entertaining means cooking. Cooking is therapy. There is no trouble that doesn’t vanish in front of a cutting board. My wife can’t remember the last time I repeated a dinner menu at home (I do, fish and chips although the Tartar Sauce recipe changed). Eating out is a learning opportunity.
Well, I do like cooking new recipies and trying new exotic foods.I always dream of travelling to different locations around the world, and I consider an essential part of world travel is trying out the local cuisine.
Food dude here. Don’t get me wrong, I still like junk like McNuggets and Salsa Verde Doritos, but da wife and I like to sample all the crazy stuff there is here in the Bay Area too. The most difficult dish we’ve made so far is an authentic Thai red curry that took a full day of gathering ingredients and equipment and another full day of actual cooking. It was pretty damn good, but it’s easier just to go to the Sri Thai restaurant out in Dublin.
When we were getting married, she did most of the planning, but I insisted on sampling the caterer’s and baker’s wares first. I didn’t really give a crap about the exact placement and color scheme of all the floral arrangements, but if the glazed pork loin wasn’t moist and tender someone’s head would roll!
Thanksgiving? Holiday of the gods. And a day when so much culinary heresy is committed that Mile Standish is turning over in his grave.
There is nothing so sacred, so holy, so completely life-affirming, so very representative of the very soul of mankind, so utterly part and parcel of the very fabric of the universe, as my stuffing. I am as one with God, for on November 23rd I have created life. Succulent, delicious, artery-destroying life.
Look, you don’t get a gut like this without liking to eat. You don’t like to eat like this without being able to cook a bit.
One of my favorite things in life is after making a large meal for people is having everyone eat what I’ve made and really enjoy it. I get incredibly “fulfilled” (for lack of a better word) when people eat food I have made and compliment me on it. I still have friends and neighbors clamoring for another pot of my buffalo and chocolate chili I make for football games. I’m going to whip some up for the playoffs and Superbowl.
