The Inverse Donut of Bougieness

After living and eating in Northern California on-and-off over the past six years, I’ve formulated a theory about what is generally accepted as “bougie.” I discovered it observing Bay Area food culture, but now realize it applies to so many more things. Because all bougie ideas live on Medium, I’m sharing it here:

For something to be bougie, it must be sourced from either less than 100 miles or greater than 4,000 miles. If it’s sourced from in-between, it’s not bougie.

Visual approximation of the sourcing practices of the SF food scene. Map via Google Maps, a locally grown product of the Bay Area, and drawn on an iPad, a locally designed and outside-the-donut manufactured product.

Example application: “Please… no Iowa corn for me. I want my locally grown tomatoes glazed in Madagascan vanilla paired with locally roasted coffee from the foothills of Kilimanjaro.”

Importantly, this theory is descriptive, not normative. In fact, I’d argue there’s great stuff from in-between that often goes unrecognized because of this bias. The distances are approximate and fungible, but the main idea holds. And restaurants may even source things from within the donut, but will rarely state this on the menu and only sheepishly admit it. They only emphasize inverse donut inputs.

Interesting corollaries:

• Edges theory: Like how a donut has curved edges, so does this theory. If something is sourced from literally where you’re standing, it’s even bougier than if from a farm 10 miles away. Equally, if it’s from literally the patch of land/ocean that’s the furthest possible point from you right now, it’s bougier than from a generic location 8,000 miles away. The closest and furthest points are locations of “max bouginess.”
• Double inverse donut: I bought a bowtie in Nairobi from a local, all-women, post-conflict, Christian sewing cooperative attached to a cafe and shop. I sourced the bowtie while within the donut hole, but now use it outside the donut in the Bay Area. Result: double bougieness.