There’s something special about being a foodie. You sort of have this unique view of the world, at least where food is concerned, and feel connected to others who see it similarly.
Without having to say anything, you just know how they feel—at least where food is concerned. These 19 points are what connects most foodies—though, of course, sometimes only 12 may apply…
1. You drive across town for food
Naturally, you’ll drive across town just to get to your favorite food store or restaurant—even in, say, L.A. traffic.
2. Shopping is an art
It’s not like you just go shopping randomly: you scan the aisles for the best and coolest new products; you go to the Farmers’ Market to find the freshest produce and you come home ridiculously happy when you score something nice.
3. You take road trips for restaurants
You’ll go on a road trip just to try that restaurant that’s recently opened a five-hour drive away from you.
4. Food is a huge part of the budget
So be it that you might have to take the bus to work, but you will not sacrifice the quality of your food.
5. When you go traveling
When you go traveling, it’s normal to spend hours on Yelp and Michelin guides to figure out which places you absolutely must visit—like that food truck that just came to L.A. and everyone’s raving about, or that special chocolaterie in Seattle.
Naturally, you don’t intend to get your coffee from Starbucks, but rather that hipster coffee place in downtown where they roast the beans on site.
These places you have listed to eat at, try chocolate at or drink at are just as important as the landmarks and museums, if not more so. After all, you’ll remember a place by the flavors and scents as much as the sights.
6. Your favorite chef is a celebrity
It doesn’t matter if they’re world famous or run a small restaurant in your town, to you, they’re royalty.
7. The kitchen is a lab
You’ll happily spend hours in the kitchen, experimenting with various ingredients to get your recipe just right. When you go out to dine, you try to figure out all the ingredients in your meal so you can replicate at home. You’re a mad scientist.
8. Your Pinterest account is a work of food
All those incredible food photos! Art. Food is art.
9. Food bloggers feel like your friends
There are food blogs you’ve followed for years. In fact, you know the bloggers so well they feel like virtual friends. And, when you find a new blog to love, you feel like you just won the lottery.
10. You use food to impress dates
To impress a date, you either cook them an incredible dinner (possibly giving them a rundown on all the special ingredients you’ve scored for the meal), or give them breakfast in bed.
11. Food can make a date less impressive
If your date asks you over for dinner and serves you low grade ingredients, you feel like they don’t care. Literally. How could they care and serve you things out of a tin!
12. You check the ingredients obsessively
It’s not like you’d buy anything off the shelf without checking the ingredient list. For example, let’s have a look at a regular chocolate bar. Where are the cocoa beans from?
What’s the quality of the vanilla? Is it rain forest certified? Are there any weird additives or flavorings? Unless it’s pure and high quality, you put it back on the shelf.
In fact, seeing poor quality foods on the shelves of a store makes you feel depressed. How can people try to feed others things that are manufactured from unnatural products and tastes like wood shavings? And, why do people accept that? They’ve all had their taste buds brainwashed!
13. Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice
A foodie knows that sugar and salt are flavor enhancers, meaning if you add a bit of salt and a bit of sugar (or honey, maple syrup, stevia…any kind of sweetener), your food will taste more. However, without a great taste to start, you are enhancing something not worth enhancing.
Herbs, spices and other flavors stemming from great ingredients are the basis for making something taste great. No amount of salt and sugar can cover up the underlying taste. As a result, you almost faint when you try foods that taste like salt and nothing but salt or sugar and nothing but sugar. Very poor.
14. You are selective about salt in restaurants
You don’t put salt on your food in restaurants without tasting it first. Why would you assume that the chef doesn’t know how to flavor the food properly?
15. The holidays are all about the food
What would you do if not try new recipes and return to favorites for the holidays. After all, that’s what they’re about, isn’t it? Meeting friends and family while eating—tons of eating.
16. There’s a difference between a donut and a donut
There are poor quality, bad-for-you donuts, then there are baked-to-perfection French beignets in that new place on 3rd Street where one of the flavors has bacon in it. Gourmet, darling! Anything can be made gourmet….
17. You know that salt and sugar go together
It might sound really weird, but bacon is not just a flavor for donuts, but for chocolate, too. You try all those speciality flavors because you know some of them will score big time.
18. You’ll wait in line for food
There’s a new taco truck in town, and it’s reputed to serve the best tacos ever. You’ll happily wait an hour for yours.
19. You want to kill the restaurant owner (but, of course, you won’t)
Your friends are happy about the cool presentation of the food and the ambiance of the place. Personally, you want to kill the owner as you are paying way too much for a crème brûlée with burnt sugar in places and the consistency is anything but smooth.
(Yep, that happened to me recently, so I know. Oh, the frustration and depression. Don’t they understand that food is art? They own a restaurant!)
Not all foodies think alike: some are vegans, some meat eaters, some obsessed with organic foods and some not. However, there are things that unite all food lovers and that’s the love of great food and the lengths they will go to obtain and prioritize it on their to-do list.
Chances are, you as a foodie or your foodie friends, will cook/eat to celebrate and to perk yourself up if you are down. You will also try that recipe for gourmet popcorn for a random movie night when you are just chilling in your sweatpants or serve canapés with the wine—for no good reason other than it makes everything better if the food is right.
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