March 23, 2011

Food books: fun or fetish?

Happened across this post, Books I'm Not Going to Read, on Mae's Food Blog yesterday after I wrote Book Stuff.  It led me to read these two articles:  The Moral Crusade Against Foodies and Defending 'Foodies'

My thoughts: 
I'd like to think it's possible to have a passion for something like food, without being obsessed to the point of it being detrimental to your life or the lives of others.  I've read two of Steingerten's books and all of Bourdain's.  While I have never seen anything other than the persnickety curmudgeon persona from Steingarten, Bourdain has developed viewpoints further in his writing as well as in his TV commentary.  He asks the question, How can we be so enthralled with food when there are children out there starving?