I've seen the term, "foody" or "foodie" used in places where I'd expect to see glutton, or, if wearing a tuxedo, gourmet, or, if not wearing a tux, but maybe wearing Nikes, gourmand. Would someone who knows about these terms please explain the difference? When did "foody/foodie" originate, and why?
Don't know where it originated but I could hazard a guess at why. "Gourmand" sounds too intellectual for these anti-intellectual times. People don't like us clever folk so everything gets dumbed down.
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
1662 J. Chandler tr. J. B. van Helmont Oriatrike lxxviii. 580 None but fit and foody matters [L. materias aptas ac cibales] concocted and digested by the Stomack, are transmitted into the more remote shops of the digestions.
Yes, foody is much older, but it's also a different meaning. The OED Online gives three meanings and they're all adjectives:
quote:
foody, adj.
1.Full of or supplying food. Obs. rare. Chiefly in the writings of George Chapman. ?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads xi. 104 Who brought them to the sable fleet, from Idas foodie leas [Gk. ἐξ Ἴδης].
2. Of or relating to food. 1662 J. Chandler tr. J. B. van Helmont Oriatrike lxxviii. 580 None but fit and foody matters [L. materias aptas ac cibales] concocted and digested by the Stomack, are transmitted into the more remote shops of the digestions.
3. Of woollen yarn: having a dense but less springy quality, producing a less durable pile when woven. 1805 J. Luccock Nature & Prop. Wool 123 Wool of this discription is distinguished by the epithets foody and flowery.
Goofy cited the 1662 quote. None of those meanings are the one Geoff was referring to.
Geoff was referring to the nounfoodie which the OED defines as:
quote:
foodie, n. colloq.
A person with a particular interest in food; a gourmet.Sometimes distinguished from ‘gourmet’ as implying a broad interest in all aspects of food procurement and preparation. 1980 G. Greene in N.Y. Mag. 2 June 33/3 She..slips into the small Art Deco dining room of Restaurant d'Olympe..to graze cheeks with her devotees, serious foodies.
The OED Online has different entries for foodie and foody. They are different parts of speech and they have different meanings.
Edited to correct spelling.This message has been edited. Last edited by: tinman,
There's quite a difference between gourmet and gourmand. The former is someone who knows about enjoys good food, whereas the latter just enjoys eating. A gourmet wouldn't be seen dead in McDonalds whereas fast food is the gourmand's normal meal. A foodie has pretensions to being a gourmet, but can't really be called a gourmand - the portions served in gourmet restaurants are too small.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.