I’ve recently taken to cruising through StumbleUpon during my moments of boredom or random down time. It’s not a bad way to see the Internet, really. When I opened my account, I typed in a few categories that I figured would be interesting to me, including the following: “food.” I had no idea that such an innocent four-letter word could be such a landmine.
My fairly fraught relationship with food is well–documented on the ‘nets so I won’t bore you with the details here. Suffice it to say, I’m not what one might call a foodie. But there’s a wealth of information to be found online, and I figured that “food” would yield a few good recipes that I could try to throw into regular rotation around these parts.
Instead what I’ve found is that StumbleUpon is basically a hub for unadulterated food porn. The broader implication here is, obviously, that the Internet is just a seething mass of food porn, waiting to be devoured by rampaging sweet-toothed (in some cases savory-toothed, I will grant you that) consumers.
The thing I wonder about most is who are all these people with fancy kitchens and all the equipment necessary to make such fancy food, and how is it possible that they also all have cameras and take nice photographs? Honestly, where do these people come from? With the number of blogs about baking alone, you’d think that every other person you met must be writing one. And yet I am not acquainted with a single person who purports to be working on any project of that nature. I am, in fact, pretty certain that I am not personally acquainted with anyone who has a food blog. My mom and sister both used to write their own, but both have stopped.
Where are the food pornographers hiding themselves? How do they find the time to do so much cooking? And why do people find pictures of food so appealing? Share your wisdom, I implore you! I myself am at a loss, and can’t deny my appetite (yuk yuk) for knowledge (yum!).
2 replies on “Stumbling Upon Food”
Hello, Emilie! One of the resident foodies here. To answer your question with my tongue only somewhere sort of near my cheek:
1. This particular food pornographer is hiding in San Francisco. Literally hiding. One of the P-Mag editors has been making 300Â jokes about spray tan abs and I’m trying not to get fired for LOLing at my desk.
2. I find the time because I have to cook & eat anyway, and feel I might as well do it well. I don’t: a, spend a lot of time watching TV, b, spend a lot of time having friends (three cheers for being in a new city!), or c, spend a lot of time doing much else. Besides reading books (which I can do while things are simmering or baking in an oven), I don’t have many hobbies at home. Also, I suspect that most of these people are either part-time employed, stay at home moms, or, like me, don’t do that much cooking; we just post a bulk of what we cook, so it seems like a lot.
3. Because it looks delicious and, for people who cook, gives them creative ideas. Plus food is pretty. Plus it’s food. I don’t know. I have been asked to explain the mindset that governs a foodie before and I just don’t exactly know how to explain it because I don’t understand the lack of it.
4. There wasn’t a fourth question but I felt like I was on a roll.
MADNESS? THIS IS SPRAY TAN.
Sorry, I got distracted.
I’m so jealous of people who can take good pictures of food. I know there’s an art to it, but my pictures always look like garbage. I like to cook, I just so rarely do. I do, however, invite anyone who loves to cook to come and try out recipes on me. I’m noble like that.