Oversized foods increase conflict between food aesthetic and food security
Numerous videos featuring outrageous dishes have been circulating on social media. These include:
- Ice cream sundaes with over 20 scoops being sold in Bangkok
- Steaks the size of your head in California
- Cocktails containing entire bottles of tequila in Mexico
What were once reserved as novelty dishes for county fairs have become staples at restaurants around the world.
The excess is not limited simply to the consumption of food either. Some spas have begun offering food-centric treatments, such as chocolate massages. Cleopatra may have bathed in milk to maintain her beauty but you can go to a spa for a red wine bath. These gimmicks have become popular because photos of food are great additions to social media feeds, which provide free advertising for the establishments.For example, in Toronto last summer the cake-covered cones from Sweet Jesus caused customers to line up around the block. However, these cones appear tame compared to some of the other foods circulating online.
[media-credit name=”Photo courtesy of Sam DeLong via CC-BY-SA-2.0-2″ align=”aligncenter” width=”907″]
This quest for creating the most jaw-dropping dishes comes at a cost. Most of these dishes realistically cannot — and for health reasons, should not — be consumed by one person, inevitably leading to higher levels of food waste. According to Value Chain International, $31 billion of food was wasted in 2014 in Canada. This level of waste is particularly inexcusable when one considers that 850,000 turn to food banks per month according to Food Banks Canada. How is it possible for these massive portions to exist when so many people don’t have access to food? By combining a large number of factors including access and employment, what this divide boils down to is privilege.While some struggle to put food on the table, others are privileged enough to send Snapchats of their latest YOLO meal to their friends.
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Second Harvest, an organization that promotes food redistribution in Toronto, has said that “demand for high-quality, aesthetically-pleasing food is a key factor behind the volume of food waste occurring among consumers.” While this statement was about supermarkets and customers rejecting produce based on appearance, the same applies to the huge volume of food people purchase in order to enhance their Instagram aesthetic Despite knowing this, it can still be tempting to indulge in some of the over-the-top foods available this summer. In order to make these purchases more sustainable (not to mention healthier), try splitting a treat with a friend and prioritize buying food that is sustainable. It’s also important to reduce food waste at home. You can achieve this by buying food in smaller quantities, as well as noting the difference between expiry and best before dates. By eating at home more often, you will be able to consume the food you buy before it expires, saving you money and positively impacting the environment.
Photo by Mariah Bridgeman/The Ontarion.