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***I think that as your friends settle down a bit and have the money to enjoy good food, things will change. You're just ahead of the curve a bit.

I agree. I started getting into food a few years ago (I'm 23), but that was the result of 2 wonderful things: befriending a budding chef through other friends (he and my best friend have a baby now) and the beginning of dating my current bf, whose travel and per diem as a consultant turned him into quite the foodie, and he shared that love with me. I always sort of knew how to cook, but I wasn't really aware of how good food could be until these two guys - GUYS turned me foodie!

I agree with dbcurrie and joyyy. Give it a little time. Most of the guys around your age seem to like X-Box or other video games--I think there's one out there called Cooking Mama for Nintendo wii and ds. Maybe that would be a way to introduce them to something other than chicken fingers. You could also make a killer chili for a Sunday afternoon game--I knew a guy in college who got everyone into chili cookoffs after they saw him dump half a bottle of Absolute Peppar vodka into the pot.

Oh, don't worry, your friends will catch on. When they go out for a night of eating second rate burgers and greasy fries, then wake with mouths that taste like motor oil - they'll look over at your plate/stove/latest obsession and you'll create a sensation.

Keep honing your palate, honey. We're far from a dying breed.

Oh, and - at 22, male and with a somewhat educated palate - don't count out the cougars.

@ chiff ~ LOL! *cougars*

Can I agree with you?
I'm the same age, and I love to do the same things you do, but few of my friends are at the same level as I. A few are, but most are still into eating fastfood and such.
We had an impromptu wine night right before I left-- It was boxed wine (ugh), but I provided the cheese, crackers and hors d'ourves after a quick trip to Wegman's and they were amazed that such cheeses other than velveeta and kraft existed. Apparently, the next weekend, without me, they shopped for the cheeses themselves and were successful.

I doubt they matured from the boxed wine though.

We'll just have to be patient, I guess. It'll give us more time to refine our cooking skills ;)

I am 31(and male) now and have been into fine food for the last 10 years or so. I feel your pain in having your friends not appreciate your passion. I suffered through the exact thing and at one point decided that I too would just have my hangout buddies, and food buddies. well, it wasnt long until my food buddies became hangout buddies and the non foodie hangout buddies kind of dissapeared. cant say if it was them or me but personally im perfectly ok with the way things worked out. its just too hard to be friends with people that either dont share your interests or even worse mock them!

I think there's definitely an interesting phenomenon of teenagers and young adults being interested in natural, sophisticated foods. Part of it is probably the broader national realization that eating crappy foods is bad for you, and the celebrity of chefs most likely plays a role as well. I'm a teenager (hence the screenname, hehe) and I talk about food and culture constantly with many of my friends...even if they're not well versed in cooking, they're interested and always have something valuable to contribute. You're not alone!! =)

@kfarrel3 The best times I remember is when I was young and not so jaded (like now) my friends would come over on a friday night.
I would make 2 small boiled chickens with large cheap onions and potatoes, a big garden salad (no bags of salad then) and a few large loaves of italian bread slathered in butter. For dessert a huge pan of brownies. Total price of the meal about 10 bucks.
I think that same meal can be made today for close to the same.
We also used to do a pasta night. 2 boxes of pasta, some sauce, same loaves of bread, big salad and some kind of dessert.
My impromptu dinners were done in my small kitchen in my apartment.
Windows open to let the heat out, box fan turned around pulling the air out.
Those are some great memories. Do not leave out this part of your life because your kitchen and budget are small. Improvise, get some food on sale. Learn to adapt. These are the memories you will smile over when you are older and jaded.
Remember Friday night? I know I do. Makes me smile everytime.

kfarrel3 - I totally hear you about time and money - but don't let the size of your kitchen hold you back! It's not the size that counts! ;) I developed 100 recipes for a cookbook (due out next fall) in my teeny-tiny Brooklyn kitchen, and my husband and I have hosted multi-course dinner parties for up to 20 in our little apartment, having cooked all the food in our teeny kitchen. It can be done! :) In fact, it's kind of fun figuring out how to manage it all. Not that I would say no to a bigger kitchen...

I think it depends on your age and where you live. When I was in my early 20s, I loved food but cost was a major issue and friends were more interested in drinking than in eating good food. As you get older, you'll find more foodie friends and people who are into cooking and eating more interesting food than bar food/American food.

Also, living in a bigger city where the food is more interesting is better for foodie-ism.

Hang in there!

I'm a 25 year old (male) and have always been a foodie, though I really became (even more) passionate about food while studying abroad in Europe. I spent most of my stipendium there buying different foods from the markets and stores. I would always drag my friends to local markets or grocery stores during trips to other countries, to see what they had to offer. Luckily, in my host city, many of the international people living with me were also foodies. We hat some GREAT intl. pot luck dinners.

Back home in the U.S., most of my friends are more concerned with going out to eat. I think that more people here, especially the 20-30 range, would rather go to a nice restaurant than try make something fine themselves in their own kitchen.