Forgive me cyberspace, for I have sinned...it's been about 9 years since the last time I blogged. OK, I'm not Catholic, but...it's Lent and some people are. I did have a blog about training for an (for me THE only) Ironman Canada I did in 2006, but it faded after the race. So now, new topic area and new blog! I figure I pay to host my website, so there should be updated content, right?
Food and recipes seem like an endless source of topics I'd like to write and talk about, guess we'll see if that's true. It would be super cool if this blog becomes interactive and a few other food aficionados read, comment, and discuss stuff with me. Second best would be if a couple people find it worth reading. And, in last place would be that it's just my own online journal because I like to write (and, of course, my mom will read it because she was one of the biggest fans of the last blog, Hi Mom!).
So here's a topic to kick it off...Foodies. Who are they? What are the criteria? Why do I hesitate to call myself one? Somehow, in my mind, "foodies" are people who know stuff. Important stuff about food. Fancy stuff. Stuff I don't know. I read dozens of recipes every day and think about food damn near all the time, it seems. I dream about food and the recipes I made or will make pretty much every night, no exaggeration. So if enthusiasm for food is a criteria, check. But I don't feel like I'm allowed to be called a foodie. I can list all the things I don't know about food and food prep much more easily than the things I do know about food. I can name other Foodies easily - both famous ones and folks I see all the time - but I don't see myself in that club. Why do I even care about this - Is this a loaded label for anybody else?
My headgames about whether or not I'm a foodie make me think of people who don't call themselves athletes. That label is one I have no problem with. "Athlete" is the center of my identity and has been since I was 7 years old. Matter of fact, I'd be kinda pissed if somebody didn't think of me as an athlete. It's curious to me when people say, "I'm not an athlete, I just train for marathons." Or, "I'm not an athlete, I just go to Masters' swimming a few times a week." WHAT? But somehow, I can't transfer the foodie label in the same way.
Some people say they hate labels. Don't put me in a box and all that. There are reasons labels suck sometimes. But I'd like to label myself a Foodie someday.
Anybody else have any thoughts about being a Foodie?