The Politics of Foodie Discourse: Idealized, Ironic,

Perhaps the next best thing to sharing a lively meal with food scholars is partak-ing in an intellectual dialogue with food scholars on themes of culture, food and con-sumption. We are honored to have this space devoted to the sociological significance of food, and grateful for the thoughtful scholarly engagement with our ideas. There is abundant material in these comments to inspire future research and reflections. In this reply, we will begin by responding to some of the specific criticisms directed at our work, and then build off some of the points suggested as future directions for scholarship on food and culture. These points can be broken down into three themes or characteristics of foodie culture – as idealized, ironic, and materialist. In this short space we cannot do justice to the wide range of comments provided, but we hope to speak to some of the richness of the ideas, and continue the process of intellectual dialogue. xAn Idealized Foodie Strawman? One of the most serious charges, from DeSoucey et al., is that our depiction of foodie culture creates a foodie “strawman, ” reifying a group of “politically en