Is foodie-ism a horse race or a dog show?

Someone tweeted this link about the evolution of foodieism out of French nouvelle cuisine. I'm not really sure I understand it, but the argument seems to be something like this: Nouvelle cuisines became like a horse race -- about breeding the biggest and best horse on the field. In contrast, there is the dog show conception of success:

“Best in show” is rooted in standards of authenticity – i.e., the best representation of a type. Increasingly, foodie culture in the U.S. and other parts of the world has begun to adhere to these “best in show” standards as they seek for authentic representations of food.

I'm not really sure I understand this.