Thanks to the Food Network, the term “foodie” has become a well-known expression. Before there was foodie, the term used was gourmet. However, gourmet sounds snotty, whereas foodie sounds almost redneck. Interestingly, when it comes to food, foodie and gourmet mean basically the same thing; they are both lovers of good food and wine.
There has been an explosion of food shows on television — with Food Network and the Cooking Channel featuring food shows 24 hours a day. If that many cooking shows exists, it also means many more people getting into gourmet cooking.