The foodie wars

Junk food for the masses, real food for the rich

By Culinate staff

October 20, 2010

Last week, our local daily, the Oregonian, ran a package of articles attacking foodies, including a quiz, a guide, and a supposed myth-buster. You’ve heard these arguments before: Foodies are rich, entitled, snobby folks who eat silly fancy foods. Real people eat — well, junk food.

Plenty of locals got all riled up about the paper’s mean-spirited tactics. Best, though, might be Culinate contributor Giovanna Zivny's thoughtful blog post tackling Oregonian writer Lee Williams:

The foodie community in Portland is full of people who care deeply about what they do. People who are concerned about natural resources, education, immigration, animals, and getting food to the hungry. People who are generous and have a sense of humor. People who eat good food, but also enjoy the occasional candy bar from a gas station. But they aren’t dogmatic about it. They are also concerned with beauty and deliciousness. What’s wrong with that?

The same tired old horse got swatted anew last August, too, when Time magazine looked at the health benefits of organic food versus its costs. As numerous commenters pointed out, the magazine’s report was contradictory, conservative, and conventional. (Not least is the fact that Time reporter Jeffrey Kluger relied heavily on the controversial pundit James McWilliams as a chief source of quotes.)

Real change in the way Americans eat, apparently, isn’t going to come via the mainstream media.