Can You Pass the Foodie Test?

Sometimes it seems like the term "foodie" is kind of derogatory. Whenever I'm taking too many pictures of my food (always), a lot of times someone at the table will say "the F word." "Ohh, Tara's such a foodie." Well, I'm a proud foodie and I own it! And if you, too, are a foodie, an adventurous eater, a "food neophile" if you will, here's a scientific reason to be proud in the form of a new study from the epicenter of food science and consumer psychology: Cornell University.

I was scrolling through LinkedIn the other day and saw an update posted by Cornell's Brian Wansink, aka "the Sherlock Holmes of Food" and author of the book "Mindless Eating." (Side note: I met him last year and he's really cool!)

"Here are 16 not-very-common foods in the U.S. If you've eaten at least 9 of them twice, you would qualify as an adventurous eater ('food neophile' or 'foodie') in our most recent research," he wrote. Wansink, along with Lara Latimer, Ph.D., and Lizzy Pope, Ph.D., RD, are the authors of Food Neophiles: Profiling the Adventurous Eater. 

Check out the list of foods. Some items, like kale, I eat all the time. Others, like beef tongue or liver or eel...not...really. See how you do, and if you are indeed a food neophile, there's good news from the study: Those who had eaten the most variety "also rated themselves as healthier eaters, more physically active, and more concerned with the healthfulness of their food when compared with non-adventurous eaters." Over time, the more adventurous diet can help people maintain or lose weight, since you don't feel deprived or bored. My executive summary: Foodies have pretty much got it figured out!