erewhon hauls, ozempic, and chefluencers

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written by Mina Le
edited by Charlee Reiff

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➤ SOURCES
From Haute Cooking to Fast Food Chic: The Pairing of Food and Fashion by Melissa Marra-Alvarez
Haute Couture, Haute Cuisine by Elizabeth Way in Food & Fashion (2022)
Hippy to couture: Slow food fashion and fast food fashion by Adam Geczy and Vicki Karaminas
Food Power: The Rise and Fall of the Postwar American Food System by Bryan L. McDonald
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Avocado Toast and Blonde Salad: Critical Perspectives on Fashion and Food on Instagram by Monica Titton
Don’t Eat That: Food, Fashion, Dieting, and Disorder By Emma McClendon
“The Fabulous Market for Food,” Fortune, October 1953, p. 137
“Fill Your Easter Basket with These IGA Savings,” Lewiston Daily Sun (Maine), April 8, 1955, 9.
The Diet’s the Thing,” in Vogue, September 15, 1913, Vol. 42, Issue 6: 108.

0:00 - intro
3:57 - food as luxury
7:27 - the food system
14:43 - the rise of chefluencers
22:02 - brandification
30:30 - conclusion

[originaozz]

The last bit with the rise of Ozempic reminded me of a scene in The Hunger Games where the capitol citizens feast on extravagant meals only to gag it out to stay in shape. All that while everyone else is starving.

[pixiequeer]

with regard to the male chefluencer -- cooking is regarded as "women's work" until it comes to the professional sector. women struggle to gain prestige in kitchens, and it is mostly men who are famous chefs. similarly to teaching, where it's "for women" until you get to higher education, where the archetypical professor is assumed to be a man.

[PicturesqePrincess]

Partner of a chef here: although the romanticizing of cooking/being cooked for is lovely (and very helpful for when you’ve had a busy day), most of this content conveniently glosses over the fact that chefs work super long hours (often very late and over weekends/holidays) in hot environments for 10+ hours on their feet, with sometimes no breaks for meals themselves or even to go to the bathroom. One of my favorite parts of the Bear was in episode one when Camry comes home after a shift, haphazardly makes himself a PB&J and immediately falls asleep, because THATS more realistic for a typical night as a chef.

[sanj]

Babe wake up, new unmissable long form essay on moments of culture by miss ma’am just dropped!

[byce]

I always thought that post lockdown, that Rich people now use food (and an abundance of it) to show their wealth. for example Kim Kardashian using fruits for home decor.

[zoef]

I struggled with anorexia for several years and one thing I've found is that starvation (self-inflicted or otherwise) tends to actually reinforce and fuel obsession with food – thinking about it, looking at it, watching videos of it etc. sort of like eating vicariously instead of actually eating. i bet that a lot of these models are actually super food-obsessed and that the uptake in food trends is reflective (not contradictory) of mass propagated starvation

[RyneKlym]

As a woman who has worked in the kitchen industry it is one of the many things in the world that are "women's job" until money is involved... being a women trying to make it not just as a professional chef, but just in a regular kitchen employee is choked full of sexism. Men cooking is not sexy to me, it's just bad memories of sexist egos

[Scipio]

I feel so bad for the foods that those tiktok chef men violated. 😭😭

[teadrinker]

i think fashion as an industry has always been obsessed with what celebrities and models are eating—models used to pretend they ate hamburgers and fries like everybody else, and now they're showing off their "organic, " "clean, " and "natural" food that likely isn't that all that much healthier than any other fruit/vegetable heavy diet. and we're dealing with the growth of orthorexia as a eating disorder, more and more people are convinced they have to have the appearance of a perfect luxury diet along with the appearance of a luxury life. and like most ways class differences shape consumerism, we've created a two-tiered food system, one for wealthy or upper class people, and one for poorer people. and the proliferation of aspirational wealth has also created an aspirational diet.

[marygem]

When visiting France, I learned that the 14th, the Sun King, had Versailles designed so that he could be seen in the sun all day by moving from room to room as the sun moved. 😊☀️

[zerochill]

the amount of research and deep dives you do for your video essays is phenomenal but the way you present them is even more arresting somehow? I love how you seamlessly blend issues together, it always feels so interconnected, almost like you weave a cultural tapestry. also it's lovely how you've always got a pulse on the zeitgeist. forever fascinated by your work, thank you, mina.

[sheridanfrancis]

As a Canadian, food is a really hot button topic right now. Prices for food have never been higher, and a major grocery store chain is even being boycott starting this month. I feel like the current cultural obsession with food is similar to other wealth signifiers. It’s aspirational to the masses, and a flex for the rich. I think knowing as well that many of the ultra rich, and ultra thin, are not even really eating that food ads a layer of fascination and contempt.

[a.mckenzie]

Re: cooking thirst traps. Interestingly, while home cooking has traditionally been performed by women in NA, paid cooking (professional chefs etc) is still considered mens work. There are more men than women in professional kitchens to this day. Obviously that doesn’t account for people’s perception of the profession, though.

[natleaver]

I'm from Costa Rica, and here we have the "feria del agricultor" which is a farmers market towns put up on the weekends (Sat or Sun) so people can purchase produce, grains, meats, and dairy (and so much more, honestly) straight form farmers. It's great and I've been going for 14yrs since I moved out of my family home. I go to a big one in the center of the main town where I live in and I can find pretty much anything I need at a fraction of the price from supermarkets, and better quality as well. I love food so I actually enjoy going and shopping for ingredients.

[grace.]

Mina I so genuinely mean this, as someone who works in higher Ed administration at an Ivy League, you would be an AMAZING Ph.D student

[absolutelynotellen]

Erewhon was basically was another case of situation. I saw food content creators reviewed that the only good things were the smoothies, but the food was straight up flavorless LMAO.

[evawang]

the « sexy » chefluencers make me wanna wash my eyes with bleach LMAO
Great video and essay as always ❤

[eduferlim]

in Brazil we have street fairs everyday where we can buy fresh vegetables and fruits for a cheap price, its very common and also a cultural thing - go to the 'feira' (street fair) is part of our week. food shoudn't be a luxury, especially healthier food. our access to natural ingredients is probably one of the best things about being in the global south (no that everyone is allowed to eat properly - we know how capitalism works down here)

[pootoobaby]

The Ozempic trend makes me so fucking mad because it's affecting my mother. She has diabetes so her doctor recommended giving Ozempic a try, and her prescription kept getting flagged so the pharmacists weren't allowed to give it to her. When she with her doctor were finally able to convince whoever accepted or denied patients that yes she does in fact have diabetes and will use Ozempic for its intended purpose (I think the insurance company?), there's a shortage so she can't use it 😂I have to laugh so I don't lose it every time I see someone openly talk about using Ozempic as a dieting drug for themselves. My mother just doesn't even bother anymore and gets her go to insulin.

[tragicallyhoney]

The heroes are the people who pick the fruits for us in this weather.. All day.