Food porn

Food porn is a glamourized spectacular visual presentation of cooking or eating in advertisements, infomercials, blogs cooking shows or other visual media, foods boasting a high fat and calorie content, exotic dishes that arouse a desire to eat or the glorification of food as a substitute for sex. Food porn often takes the form of food photography and styling that presents food provocatively, in a similar way to glamour photography or pornographic photography.

The term appears to have been coined by the feminist critic Rosalind Coward in her 1984 book Female Desire in which she writes:

"Cooking food and presenting it beautifully is an act of servitude. It is a way of expressing affection through a gift... That we should aspire to produce perfectly finished and presented food is a symbol of a willing and enjoyable participation in servicing others. Food pornography exactly sustains these meanings relating to the preparation of food. The kinds of picture used always repress the process of production of a meal. They are always beautifully lit, often touched up." (p. 103)

It is important to realize that the term food porn does not strictly deal with the connection, often established throughout history, between food items and sexual contents. In the United States, food porn is a term applied when "food manufacturers are capitalising on a backlash against low-calorie and diet foods by marketing treats that boast a high fat content and good artery-clogging potential". The origin of the term was attributed to the Center for Science in the Public Interest which began publishing a regular column called "Right Stuff vs. Food Porn" for its Nutrition Action Healthletter in January 1998.

In the United Kingdom, the term became popular in the 1990s due to the TV cookery programme Two Fat Ladies after the shows producer described the "pornographic joy" the pair of them took in using vast quantities of butter and cream.

Taking a picture of food became one of the norms for younger generation in the world. Study from YPulse shows 63% of people between thirteen years old to thirty two years old posted their food picture while they are eating on social networking services. Moreover, 57% of people in the same age range posted information of the food they were eating at that time. From the percentage, food and social media are starting to connect together as trend. People using the hashtag #foodporn helps the food industry to track audiences on social networking services.

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Wikipedia