Foodstagrams have taken over our lives. This is a call to action to save our bellies and our pocketbooks. We need to start asking ourselves if the food fads are worth it. We have probably reached the point where we should start saying no to the five pound cheesecake or monster-sized burrito; for the love of all, have we forgotten about something called cholesterol levels?
Let’s be serious for a second and acknowledge the fact that we are all eating for our Instagram accounts. Don’t lie; you didn’t go to that fancy coffee shop to study. You went to that coffee shop (far away from your entire life) to get that aesthetically pleasing picture of the coffee with the books, the lighting, the cozy ambiance, and perhaps even a pastry of some kind. Now okay, no judgments at all. Truly, those coffee shop pictures are to die for, but let’s get down to what really matters; the fact that some of the “Instagram worthy” foods aren’t that tasty is questionable. And what does it say about us and our culture?
For example, let’s think of waiting in line for three hours to get a scoop of gourmet cookie dough. Seriously, this is not to cookie dough shame you because you have every right to wait in the line no matter how brutal it may be, but what’s wrong with the good old traditional Nestle store bought dough, which is much more affordable and perhaps even tastier? Three hours in the cold to get something that you can whip up in four seconds just seems a little extreme.
Or let’s talk about the rainbow bagel fad. Folks, these bagels are gorgeous, yes. But at the end of the day, they are bagels. Plain bagels with some food dye. The coffee cart on your corner can give you that same bagel, just the less bougie Instagram worthy version.
All of these claims might sound quite judgmental, but the point is just to put it in writing that some of these fads aren’t completely worth it. Your wallet and your wellbeing can’t take these Instafads. That cookie dough is just cookie dough, just like those bagels are just bagels. You’re probably expecting this incredible, life-changing, salmonella-free experience when you indulge; but in reality, they are just foods you can make at home. Social media has taken over our lives to the point that we are making our meal choices based on what looks pretty. Just because the food looks nice with “X-Pro II” filter, brightness all the way up and sharpened to the high heavens, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to consume it in obscenely large quantities.
We no longer just “eat with our eyes first”. We have started to eat with our Instagram first. The first thing that happens when the food arrives at your dinner table is pausing so that everyone can get the perfect food shot. Our bodies can’t handle these obscene meals, and we can’t healthily process the cake, fries, cookies and sugar. We need to start to really think about what we are putting into our bodies. If Instagram weren’t around, would you really have ordered that milkshake?
All photos by @taefoods