The 6 Stages Of Becoming A Foodie Dad

April 18, 2018

Thirty years ago, dads liked their food with as few frills as possible. If dads were cooking, they were on the grill, and if they were going out to a “fancy restaurant” well, there was a new restaurant called “Applebee’s” that would call their name. Today, yes, dads still grill, and dads still enjoy their casual dining chains, but now there is a new type of dad that would’ve been unfathomable in previous generations.

The Foodie Dad.

These are the dads who watch Iron Chef and start incorporating creme fraiche to their recipes. They plan their vacations around trips to Michelin-starred restaurants. They know what radicchio is. But how do they get here? Each takes their own journey, but typically there are six steps involved that take a dad from “I’ll have the usual, TGI Friday’s” to “I suppose I’ll have the tasting menu, chef.” And here they are.

STEP ONE: Dad Makes A Foodie Friend

Left to their own devices, dads are perfectly happy to subsist on Chili’s, home-grilled steaks, late-night snacks and nothing else. Dads aren’t exactly known for wanting to go outside their comfort zone. But inevitably, someone in their inner circle will become a foodie. Maybe one of their children, but most likely a neighbor, friend, or sibling. At some point the foodie in a dad’s life will get to talking about the nuances of food with that dad, and the seed will be planted.

STEP TWO: Dad Is Dragged To An Acclaimed Restaurant

There will then be some special occasion that warrants something fancier than a chain that provides a Jack Daniels sauce. This will likely be arranged by dad’s new foodie friend, who knows all the trendy places. Chances are it’ll be a hipster steak place, since dads will be willing to overlook price and snobbery when steak is involved. Either way, while he’ll at first get sticker shock at the prices, he’ll have a “eureka” moment when he takes the first bite of his steak au poivre.

STEP THREE: Dad Discovers Cooking Competitions On The Food Network

The Food Network is responsible for thousands of Foodie Dads, and their slate of food competitions are like kitty litter for dads. Chopped, Iron Chef and Cutthroat Kitchen form a holy trifecta of addictive shows that further push dad down the line to becoming a full-on foodie.

STEP FOUR: Dad Discovers Netflix Food Documentaries

Be it Hiro Dreams of Sushi or the documentary series Chef’s Table, when dad unlocked the food programming on Netflix, it’s a big step. While the Food Network shows are fun, and introduce dad to a variety of ingredients and cooking approaches, the Netflix programs lean hard into the “artistry” of cooking.

STEP FIVE: Dad Begins Home Cooking

Of course dad has always cooked, especially on the grill. But by home cooking here, we mean complex recipes with unusual ingredients, making substitutions saying things like, “I’ve got to focus on my knife work” and “I’ll finish this in the broiler to get a nice golden exterior.” Dad’s practically a foodie at this point. But then…

STEP SIX: Dad Closely Follows The Latest Restaurant Reviews

Yup, dad’s a foodie by this point. He knows all the Michelin-starred places, and makes a point to go out to the hottest spots the moment he sees a good write-up about it. He not only knows what the James Beard Award is, but he’s gone to James Beard Award winners. By now, the days of Ruby Tuesdays are long in the past. Dad has become a foodie dad.