Hipster Foodies Are Bankrupting Themselves
In her Times article, Ginia Bellafante weighed in on what she sees as the problem with Girls:
“Watching Girls, […] it can seem as though it is recording a past time, not the present, if only because the culinary obsessions that currently capture young creative-class minds, the annotations of every exceptional meal, are so little in evidence. Every generation of young New Yorker finds its own way to squander its meager earnings, and this one seems content to spend the money it makes on expensive, curated food with little sense that it is really squandering anything at all.”
Which, yes, a show written by a young person about a version of her own reality definitely reflects inaccuracy in her vision, not that of a Times writer who happens to know a total of 2 youths with poor budgeting skills. I have aligned myself with the wrong side.
Anyway, the whole conceit behind this article — that a certain brand of young person in New York spends an arguably obscene amount of money keeping up with the food world, and that is still a better choice than blowing it all on drugs — is not untrue. And it is true that the time “when it was possible to go for very long periods without meeting even one 24-year-old who could tell you anything about sea urchin or the cured meats of southern Tyrol” is, at least temporarily, over. After all, these people exist. Clearly. But do they exist in such droves that a show like Girls is remiss for not acknowledging their presence, or that anyone (other than the parents funding them) should be worried about this at all? I would say not. Not even a little. But then again, what do I know. I eat Funyuns.
Follow Virginia K. Smith on Twitter @vksmith.