Instagram Food Is a Sad, Sparkly Lie

18 July 2017

‘That seems right. As far as I can tell, it’s nearly impossible be popular in the world of Instagram food maximalism if you actually look like a person who eats the things you post; otherwise, your probably fat hand might appear in (and ruin?) a photo of an ice cream cone held out in front of a brick wall. This is especially true for women who take a more holistic, “lifestyle”-oriented approach to their influencer status, women for whom food plays a big, but not exclusive, role. According to Iturregui, if you’re one of those women, “There’s pressure every time you post. People will always have something to say: about your food, your clothes, your relationship, your body. The list goes on.”

Amanda Mull’s Op-Ed piece in Eater about the target demographic of Instagram – ‘ young, female, and conventionally attractive’ – their dysfunctional relationship to body image and how Instagram feeds this (the word is deliberately chosen) will of course not be read by the young women and will be dismissed by the ‘influencers’ who will continue to post.

http://bit.ly/2utZU8a

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Paul van Reyk
According to Mum, my first attempt at cooking, at 6 or 7, was a ‘curry’ of leaves and twigs stirred up in kids' versions of earthenware pots still used in Sri Lanka - chatties. I've broadened my repertoire since, and upgraded the utensils, but stuck with leaves and twigs, Now, though, they’re likely to be spices and herbs used in my specialty, the food of South Asia – Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. I eat it, I cook it, I cater with it, and I take people on tours to find it – at home in Australia and back in South Asia.