Blog Five: The Reality
of Virtual Food
By Sophie Boden
Our love of food has once again
fostered that evil ‘big-brother’ figure: advertising. Food advertising has been
an increasing market over the past couple of decades; as diversity of the
ethnicity of food is becoming more popular in multi-cultural societies. Of
course like all other products it has also permeated virtual networking.
Frequently
on Facebook pop up ads for our most favourite fast-food outlets, such as dominos,
are dominating our page. This was explored in the Crikey health blog where a staggering seven of the top
ten most popular Facebook pages in Australia were dedicated to corporations
‘promoting junk foods’ (Doggett, 2013).
This can have substantial health implications as junk food
advertising encourages children ‘to desire items that are unhealthy’ (Atkins
& Bowler, 2001, p. 292). Unsurprisingly this contributes to rising levels
of obesity in both developing and developed countries; with one billion people
overweight in the world today (Patel, 2007).
However, as
well as our ‘junk food’ advertisements there is also a sharing of recipes, and
hence cultural dishes. This can be a rather positive experience for Facebook
users who can engage in trying new cuisines.
It was suggested
that food is ‘also an expression of our identity’ (Kuttainen, 2013). Food can
be powerful in shaping self and community identity, with strong links between
geography and the origins and production of foods (Atkins & Bowler, 2001).
For example, our nation is associated with the Aussie favourite, vegemite; this
can unite Australians strengthening our sense of community identity. It may
also serve to reinforce our self-identity when we engage in eating this
cultural food.
This will
undoubtedly become a more frequent practise as Facebook and other virtual
networks continue to become a new medium for the sharing of culinary ideas.
Reference List
Atkins, P.,
& Bowler, I. (2001). The origins of taste, in Food in society: Economy, culture, geography (pp. 272-293). London,
England: Arnold.
Dogget, J.
(2013). Digital media and junk food advertising. Retrieved from http://blogs.crikey.com.au/croakey/2013/04/11/digital-media-and-junk-food-advertising/
Kuttainen, V.
(2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place,
week 7 notes. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au
Patel, R.
(2007). Introduction, in Stuffed and
starved: The hidden battle for the world’s food system (pp. 1-19). Toronto,
Canada: Harper Perennial.
Image Credits:
“Ad-ception:” Implementing
Advertisements in Unexpected Ways. (2013). Retrieved from http://loyoladigitaladvertising.wordpress.com/
Hi Sophie,
ReplyDeleteI liked the points that you made about a sharing of cultural identity through ethnic food recipes on social networks like Facebook and in contrast that, as described by Atkins & Bowler (2001, p. 274) although we are a global multicultural society we are still held to the cultural foods of our home country regardless whether eat them or not. And more often than not this is used to decipher a person’s cultural background when they are trying to hide where they come from such as the Irish and potatoes or Jewish kosher foods.
Reference list
Atkins, P., & Bowler, I. (2001). Food in Society: Economy, Culture, Geography. London, England: Arnold