Is Foodie and Frugal Oxymoronical?

Are we still foodies? Maybe; maybe not. First off, such monikers have never set easily for me. The reason isn't modesty. In fact, on a good day I've been known to rate my cooking as fine art. It's the clash of my two cooking influences that make this label uncomfortable. My mother, clearly in the wasting food is a sin camp, would have thought the word foodie to be just south of blaspheme. The professionals who instructed me, culinary teachers and chef bosses, would put the word foodie on the other side of the line between us and them.  So if the foodie hierarchy is just the latest causality of the economy, in my opinion, there's more upside than down.  I like the idea that there will be more progressive dinners and pot lucks with everyone in the kitchen pitching in. Maybe being a foodie separates us from who we are feeding. A cook whipping up food on a budget for friends, she's a mensch.