The downside of being a Foodie

Being a Foodie isn't always a great thing to be in my life.

Being fussy about food makes me unhappy when I see food done badly.  It always seems to be a waste to me.  As an example, last night I went to a Volunteer party for the Film Festival I just volunteered at.   It was at a downtown nightclub and we were given beer, wine, warm pop, my least favourite bottled water and limited vodka.   I am ok with that as I know it's expensive to provide alcohol for 2000 party hungry volunteers.  But being a foodie and having to scrounge for cold pizza doesn't exactly get me excited to stand in a dark and really loud house music playing bar all night.  No presentations or speeches or thanks...just loud music.   Thank you for having a party to thank us but for me I would have preferred to stay home and ordered my own pizza hot and the way I like it.  

So it occurred to me today that being a Foodie makes me extremely fussy and to others it seems that I am ungrateful.   It's not that I am ungrateful it's just that foods affect the way I feel and how much I enjoy myself.  I would have been happy with grilled cheese sandwiches if they were hot and not burned but after taking 40 minutes to drive downtown and pay for parking to eat cold pizza it just makes me just wonder if it's worth my time going there.  If it wasn't for some of my great team members I would have left after 10 minutes.   I don't have anything against having pizza,  I would have just been happier if it was fresh and hot and not ice cold.  I am not one of those people that can survive on hot dogs and pizzas everyday.  Having a slightly advanced palate makes it hard for me to just eat anything and be happy with that unfortunately.  I wish I could just eat anything and not care but I can't.

I know what it's like to host a volunteer appreciation party because I had to host one when I was a volunteer coordinator.  We didn't have a lot of money for the party so instead of spending the money on pizzas that wouldn't feed all of the volunteers I decided to make wraps and a few other fresh things and a huge decorated cookie that I made to thank the Volunteers.  The festival founder loved it and all the Volunteers thanked me for making the food.  They all seemed to love it.  I think they appreciated the effort I put into trying to give them an enjoyable party.

While I don't expect a festival with 2000 to hand make food for their volunteers I would like to see some creativity and effort put into going the extra mile that is expected of the volunteers when they provide their time and energy.   I have been attending these volunteer parties for over 10 years and they seem to get progressively worse and I know what they were like in the past and you did feel grateful that they had gone out of they way to hold a party for all of the volunteers.  It now feels like an obligation.

What I would like to encourage film festivals to do is to find a sponsor that is willing to impress the volunteers who will in turn shower you with future business and praise.   It can be done.

Giving someone great food shows them that you love and appreciate them.

Volunteers deserve great food.  Not just any food.