Culinary Lust: Food Media as a Pornographic Release for Female Viewers (2012)

Undergraduates: Morgan Bolling, none none none

Faculty Advisor: Sarah Dempsey
Department: Communication Studies

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My research examines the extreme increase in media attention devoted to food in recent decades, focusing in particular on how much of this is due to subtle similarities between pornography and food media. By studying this, I work to determine if food as an object of consumption is already innately connected to sexuality or if this is a new link that has emerged because of the unusual nature of food media._x000D_
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My primary research methods have included interviewing key personnel in the industry and analyzing extensive data. Data has been collected from archives, published articles, and a large variety of primary food media sources. _x000D_
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Though the concept of food pornography is not new to food studies, through this research I have made the argument that the popularity of this phenomenon is inextricably linked to gender. I argue that societal suppressions of the female body give way to some of the popularity of food porn. Because women are so constantly under pressure, food porn allows them a fantasy-like escape from a society where each bite is suspect for women. This work has then gone on to suggest that food media needs to be reconstructed so that it challenges these suppressions as opposed to reaffirming them. _x000D_