Gadolhadorah- You’re not supposed to understand chumash at your age the way you understood it at three. A primitive understanding of the avos should not serve as your yardstick for life.
I think there are two factors to consider here. The chovos halevavos writes that there is no such thing as a rishus- everything is either a mitzvah or aveirah, depending on intent and whether it’s the yetzer harah trying to pull down the long road to actually doing overt issurim. That said, everyone’s personal avodah depends on their level of bechira and their madreiga in closeness to Hashem. If R’ Chaim Kanievsky started experimenting with briskets, we’d all understand he had gone senile. Where he’s holding, being a foodie cannot be considered erlich. It suggests and indulgence of the senses, purely for pleasure, unbecoming of the Gadol Hador. For someone who regularly engages in issurim chamurim, diverting their taivos to food could be considered a mitzvah, taming more serious activities and perhaps weaning off them. At their level, being a foodie could be wonderful.
Most of us are somewhere in the middle. (Wolf will undoubtedly chime in here that farbeit for him to be anywhere else than the bottom of the barrel, if I haven’t forgotten the CR entirely). Being in the middle means each of us needs to assess, honestly, whether we’re indulging purely for the sake of pleasure, or actually trying to appreciate Hashem’s creations. I personally have a very difficult time believing that a man who does things for the sake of Heaven would be caught dead ‘horeving’ over a slab of meat; maybe by a woman it’s different. If someone is genuinely trying to get closer to Hashem, being a foodie (focusing a great deal of energy and time on preparing and eating the most delicious food you can find) doesn not seem like a productive lifestyle, from a spiritual perspective, and probably can’t be considered erlich.