A CASE FOR FOOD PORN

Just this week I came across an article written by a Christian woman about “Food Porn.”  There were a goodly number of comments below the article, all fairly seriously presented and not all in agreement but all done appropriately.  I had never heard of "food porn" before, therefore I couldn’t help laughing at what I was reading.  To me, even with my fairly intense past background in Christian circles, I could hardly believe how seriously “food porn” was being treated.

Now I admit there have been times when I have seen some item of food, or some presentation of a particular food, that would certainly lend itself to a snicker or two.  I think right off of the poor little mushroom who can hardly camouflage his image.

Anyway, I laughed all the way through the article, especially because of the seriousness these good people took about it.  The photo that inspired, if that is the correct word, the author to write about food porn was a Newsweek cover featuring a lady and asparagus. (I’ll leave it to you to hunt it down online.)

I re-read the article this morning, laughed some more -- and then I decided in fairness I should Google "food porn" and just see how long this subject has been around and under discussion without my knowing about it. Obviously I don't read much from the internet because I found lots of articles going back as early as 2008.  What you also need to understand right off the bat is that I am pretty old and my mind somewhere along the road decided the gutter was not the optimum place to be. 

Anyway, I think whether one’s optical view is sacred or secular, this was an interesting read, what little I read about it.  And if the pictures I saw are representative, there’s a whole other world out there that I’m just not going to bother with, except maybe a tiny giggle if I stumble upon something unlooked for.

However, I did find one very interesting observation in one of the articles (not the Christian one) that I read.  It went as follows:

"Many of us have come to realize that there is an element of pornography in the food itself, but the pornographic sense may be enhanced by the presentation, or “plating,” of the food. With food porn, the construction of the food object stands in for exotic positions. We encounter tuna tartare balancing delicately in a towering timbale. Succulent shrimp leans suggestively on a lounge of velvety grits."

That last sentence was not underlined in the article, but I underlined it and sent it on to my cousin Shirlee in North Carolina.  When she first moved there after her retirement, I took a trip back to see the Outer Banks, which she lives very close to.  One day for lunch she took me to a little seafood restaurant whose specialty was “shrimp and grits.”  I’d never heard of such a thing, but it was far and away the most delicious dish I’d ever eaten – and totally unknown here in Southern California.  Shirlee and I made no attempt to be “cool” while we ate it; we wanted to really, really enjoy every last succulent bite.

Who'd'a thought that my cousin and I would have partaken in the pleasure of food porn without knowing about it. No wonder all those other customers had giggled and pointed at us while we were "ooohing" and "aaahing" over the wonderful Shrimp and Grits. They must have thought we were two Meg Ryans!!