Kill All the Foodies

Does Your Chef Secretly Want to Strangle You?

Photo: Helen Rosner; Gothamist

Plenty of writers have spilled ink hating on foodies, but Eatocracy asks some chefs whether they feel the same way, and lo and behold, there’s no shortage of them willing to say things like, “Foodies will flat-out drop some cash on the worst pile of crap if they saw it on ‘Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives’ or if Bobby Flay threw it down. They have no real opinion of their own.” And: “You admire their enthusiasm towards coming in to eat, but they’re sometimes more excited about it than you are, to a point where it’s way overzealous.” And: “The foodie feels empowered by their passion for food, which creates a false bravado of how knowledgeable they think they are about food. The ironic part is they’re simply being spoon fed something from a food personality: ‘Well I saw something on the Food Network, and why don’t you have it?’” Still, one former chef concedes that foodies are a “necessary evil.”

“Foodies keep our doors open and the money flowing,” says that pastry chef turned, ahem, lawyer. “And it’s for that reason that our smiles fade and our eyes roll when we walk back into the kitchen after our presence was commanded by the foodies at Table 42.” Ouch. Oh, and foodies, according to a sommelier, your waiter hates you too! So next time you want to build rapport with the chef, don’t talk truffles — just wear a “BLOGGERS SUCK” shirt.

Chefs and the (other) “F” word [Eatocracy/CNN]

Does Your Chef Secretly Want to Strangle You?