WHAT DID YOU EAT TODAY?
“Suppose, for example, that a food web was
much like a social network” (Buchanan, 2002, p. 149). In on way you can almost
say that the food web is much like a social network. You can compare the amount
of friends you have on Facebook, with how the links between different
ecosystems works. “If someone has five thousand “friends” after all, they
clearly cannot all be close friends” (Buchanan, 2002, p. 149). But does food play a role on Facebook?
Image from http://www.someecards.com
It seems to be some sort of epidemic going on at Facebook. Photos of what you are going to eat have become extremely popular. Either it being a status about where your lunch took place or a picture of the delicious meal; it does seem like this has become an important part of the social network. It has also become a social trend where “strong is the new skinny” because of this people are constantly posting pictures of the healthy food they are eating. Also, there are several pages that you can like, which contain recipes for people training a lot or for vegetarians. Facebook has recently become a whole new network, which is dominated by food. People use food to show a part of their personality, what they like and what kind of interested they have. You can say that food has become a narrative about what kind of community you belong to (Kuttenien, 2013). For example, if you are a vegetarian, posting vegetarian food, gives people an impression of what kind of person you are.
REFERENCE LIST:
Buchanan, M. (2002). Tangled web, in Nexus: Small worlds and the groundbreaking science of networks (pp. 138-155). New York: NY: W.W. Norton
Kuttenien, V. (2013) BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of place. Lecture 7: A case of rum (powerpoint slides). Retrieved from www.learnjc.edu.au
Image from: http://www.someecards.com
Kimia,
ReplyDeleteAs a Facebook user myself, I am very much aware of how much of a part food plays in this virtual network. As you have discussed, we as individuals use food as yet another way of communicating to others who we are as a person, but I find that people also share their images of food in an attempt to create connections with other cultures and people via the common interest of particular flavours and cuisines. These distinctions of favoured food tastes act as a badge of our identity (Atkins & Bowler, 2001), and by being able to share our favourite foods online via virtual networks, we can convey these badges to many different people from many different nationalities all around the world. In that sense, one does not even need to communicate with words to connect with someone, the image of food is enough by itself.
Reference List:
Atkins, P., & Bowler, I. (2001). The origins of taste, in Food in society: Economy, culture, geography (pp. 272-293). London, England: Arnold.