What is a foodie?

I honestly don't know. I sort of assume that a foodie is one who has chosen food in all of it's facets as a hobby. I have a friend in town. We were talking about where to eat that night. Being from the south, he likes to get as much varied ethnic cuisine in him while he's in town. This is right up my ally. When I do go out I like to eat simple, clean, purposeful food. Food that has history. Not that I don't also enjoy more elaborate dining, but working in that environment all the time has jaded me a bit. I love dropping a franklin on myself for dinner and drinks, but I'm also a bitch. I feel as if I'm in analysis mode when I should be relaxing. So my friend and I are talking about were to eat, which leads to a discussion on restaurants with another friend who was present. He made reference to the fact that I tend to go to out of the way ethnic restaurants and he likes good food but also likes to be seen. He used the term 'purist foodie' and 'scenester foodie'. Which I thought was funny. 1) I don't consider myself a foodie, though I love food, since I do this for a living 2) I didn't really think about classifying foodies. Once the wheels were in motion though I realized that there are several strains of the contemporary foodie.

1)Purist Foodie: seeks out traditional, authentic cuisine regardless of where, and really thinks they now what the cuisine is about (and are usually wrong).

2)Scenster foodie: Really likes good food, but thinks it tastes better when served somewhere by pretty people for pretty people.

3) Wannabe foodie: The foodie that wishes they actually had the balls to cook professionally. They fancy themselves chef material but have no real idea what a chef is. Really enjoys being called chef by friends. A disturbing psuedo-erotic worship of Emeril, Bobby Flay, Tyler Whats his name or any other TV Chef.

4) Wine Geek: I lump this in because of the natural connection between food and wine. Of course there are serious classifications within the broad spectrum of wine geek; from California oak chomping ingrate to serious Barolo quaffing oenophile.

5) Home Cook: Someone who just really likes to cook, has no real desire to do it professionally. May enjoy entertaining, likes to casually learn about food, beut generally just likes to eat well. The true home cook is a credit to the foodie world.

6) Scoop: The foodie that really wants to find the next great place to eat. Forst to post on the message boards, first to give their two cents. A fickle bird. It's not known what is more important to Scoop, good food, or finding a new restaurant.

This is just an 'off the top of my head' list. I'll be updating this list now and again as new strains are verified.