I weighed 5.5 kgs (yes, that’s right) when I was born.  That’s a LOT of baby to push through the birth canal.  Kudos to my mother for going on to give birth to my siblings after THAT experience!  My mother tells me that on the day I was born I looked like a three-month-old.  She put me in a dress and I slept the day away, except when it was time to eat.  Getting born is hard work and a girl’s got to keep her strength up!

Once I was weaned from breast milk, I happily took to mushed up people food.  Back when I was teething, the modern baby feeding industry was in its gestational period.  There was no introduce-a-new-food-one-at-a-time to let the developing digestive system assimilate.  Not in my family! They had lived through the privations of World War II in Europe and, by golly, no child of theirs was ever going to starve! The stories go that by the time I had teeth, I was eating onions and olives with my dad and shouting “Salud, papá” when he raised his glass of beer…still a favorite combo.

My grandmother was an excellent cook, and my mother still is.  My brother does a pretty mean turn around the stove and my sister ain’t no slouch.  Half of Caracas would show up at our house when my father made shashlik – the good, Armenian stuff, not the Turkish knock-off, shish-kebob! I’ve been known to put some pretty delectable food on the table, too.  So you might say that the enjoyment of food, from shopping, through preparation and consumption, is in my genes! (And in my jeans!)

Some years ago, I started noticing the term “foodie” popping up in the media.  I thought it meant someone who enjoys food but is not obsessed with food.  In my dictionary, that would be a gourmand. While I appreciate the finer points of cuisine and enjoy titillating my taste buds with the latest offerings from Daniel Boulud, or Jean Georges Vongerichten, Alfred Portale or Mario Batali, I’m just as happy with a slice of pizza from the $1 pizza shops!

I’ve been noticing that there are many “foodie” blogs out there.  Most of them have exquisite photos of delectably sublime food…so wonderful, I can almost taste the image! Some bloggers talk about the latest gastronomic experience they’ve created and thoughtfully provide us their recipes.  Others rave about the newest “it” restaurant, food truck/cart, hole-in-the-wall they’ve visited.  They write about the best market, kitchen gadget, cooking technique out there, and I realize I’m woefully out of step.

I’m not a “foodie.” That takes way too much effort.  I’m just someone who likes food!