Sunday, April 18, 2010

Sunday Styles

So, I recently went to a birthday party. After that, I was supposed to go to an after party for a theater project that Lola worked on, but was totally wiped out from the previous night. I had some weird encounters at the birthday party (what can I say, most people are weird!), but overall it was a good time. I have a hard time complaining when I've been plied with wine and delicious, ultra-fattening foods. There was delicious pate, wonderful bread, a seemingly unending selection of cheeses, deliciously salty cured swine,and my personal favorite--cornichons. I guess if I were really writing this for foodies (though, arguably, I'm writing this almost exclusively for myself), I would list the kinds of cheeses that were served.

The hostess and birthday lady works in the food industry, as did some of her guests, and yours truly. I spend a good amount of time at the party railing against this guy that I met earlier this week. He was a self-declared "foodie".


Tangent:
I have to say, and I'm sorry to whosoever reads this and uses that word--it's not personal--I hate that term. It makes my skin crawl. I would so much prefer the terms "epicure" or "gourmand". Foodie, to me, is a term that people apply to themselves, and anyone can claim that s/he is one. What bothers me isn't even that one has to back it up or prove it (but people who are "foodies, always seem to try and prove it), but it's such a bizarre term. It's too cutesy.

In Senegal there is a descriptor for people like me: buggna lekk. It literally means, "someone who likes to eat". Fuck yes. I am a fan of getting down and dirty with stuff (in general), so in this case, I don't want any diminutive language; I want to talk dirty to and about my food.

If I love you though, and you use the term foodie, forget about all the stuff I just wrote.

End of tangent.

So I met this guy and he wouldn't shut up about food. And yes he was knowledgeable. But he was so cocky and was out to "outfood" everyone. Jane said it was because he was so passionate and that she respected that in him. It didn't even feel like he enjoyed experiencing food, just talking about random food shit in a really pedantic way. It was a turn off.


After suffering through hours of this while drinking (which always lowers my already low tolerance for people who are acting stupidly), I thought I was actually being somewhat gracious. But then this guy starts talking about how refined his taste is, but how his friend would just eat at McDonald's. Finally, after really not engaging with him (he barely paused for breath, so it wasn't much of an option) about food or about anything, I mentioned that Anthony Bourdain said that he loves McDonald's in Kitchen Confidential.

This guy started mentally assaulting me to find out just why Anthony Bourdain likes McDonald. He wouldn't let it go. I just kept telling him to read the book and that I didn't remember why (I read the book in 2002), but he just kept badgering me and wouldn't leave it alone. "Why?!? There must be a reason! Why does Anthony Bourdain like McDonald's?!?!". I'm not sure I can convey in type how I was feeling, but after that exchange, I walked outside and told my friend that I wanted to punch him in the face. Obviously, it wasn't just the way he talked about food. It was his whole deal. Sometimes, some people need to get punched in the face.


Sometimes I also could use a punch in the face (figuratively, of course). I wanted to say that in my previous post, I was very dismissive of DJ. It appears we will be going on a date on Thursday. I am not very excited about it, but rather than convince myself that it will be epically bad, I'm willing to be a little more open-minded about it. He seems like a nice, if somewhat awkward guy. It'll be fine. I hope.

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