Am I a Foodie, or a Greenie? Are You?

Flash Back March 2, 2010

Tonight as I was unpacking my first box of organic produce from a local farmer, I cooed sounds of approval over the beautiful vegetables, fruit and herbs. I wondered out loud, am I a foodie? I have to admit that until recently, I never heard of the term before, until a good friend spoke to me about her daughter-in-law and described her as one. I love fresh organic food, I’m willing to drive 20 minutes away to shop at the wonderful Central Market in Poulsbo instead of a closer grocery chain store, just to be able to have huge choices of organic food. I grow some of my food for the same reason. But does that make me a foodie?

I searched the web for the term and I’m not convinced I would qualify as one. Foodie is a term Paul Levy and Ann Barr invented and used in their 1984 book, The Official Foodie Handbook. Well, I don’t have the owner’s manual, and I didn’t search too deeply on the web, so it isn’t clear if I am a foodie. A gourmet is known as the connoisseurs of refined taste and foodies are considered the amateurs “who simply love food for consumption” according to Wikipedia. A foodie may be a hobbyist, or perhaps an obsession.

Shrug. I’m not fond of labels so whether I am or not is of no importance to me and a good indicator that officially, I am not a foodie. However, I do love good fresh, wholesome, tasting food that doesn’t come from a can or the freezer section of the grocery store. If I can’t pick my food at home in the garden, than I want to pick it out of the colorful, overflowing bins in the produce section, and I want it to be pesticide or any –icide free.Although I am an organic gardener who wants to only eat organic food, it’s almost an impossibility, since I do dine out in local eateries. I don’t know one organic restaurant within 25 miles or having to take a ferry boat ride from where I reside. I hope that organic food served in restaurant will become the norm in the future, not a rarity.

I recently discovered a Carnation, Washington, organic farm, Full Circle Farm delivers to my small town. I made my first order and am pleased with the delivery. Almost every thing in the box they grow themselves or contract with other local Northwest farmers, although there are some items, such as beautiful mandarin oranges and kiwis, that are shipped in from outside our region. I carefully washed beautiful heads of lettuce and bunches of spinach and spun them dry in the salad spinner, so they are ready to use immediately for the next week. I nibbled on a few leaves as I washed them and placed the rest in plastic tubs. There were no plastic bags around the produce so I had little waste to dispose of.  The box it came in will be recycled into the garden. It felt good to buy from a Washington farmer with minimal packaging and the food I tasted so far is awesome.I may not care if I’m a foodie, but I do like that in the middle of winter, I can be a greenie (has anyone coined that term yet?) and still eat great tasting, fresh produce.