Clean eating and Instagram: purity, defilement, and the idealization of food

Walsh, Michael; Baker, Stephanie Alice

doi:10.1080/15528014.2020.1806636

Cited by 33 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Within the person-related domain, intra- as well as interpersonal determinants are affected by social media food communication and are inferred to subsequently inform analog eating behaviors. It is argued that eating habits or dieting practices are governed through digitally conveyed food meanings [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ] and virtual social relationship networks that serve as collective identity pools that construct and provide symbolic structures for the orientation of analog eating behavior practices [ 38 ]. Additionally, motivational factors and emotions are described as variables inspired and triggered by engaging in social media food communication [ 37 , 39 , 40 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In most cases, however, only hypothetical or no conclusions are then drawn regarding analog food behavior. Similarly, studies that take social media food communication as a starting point and medium of analysis, then theorize inferences regarding human perception and draw hypothetical conclusions about possible food behavior outcomes [ 33 , 35 , 36 , 38 ]. Thus, the evidence provided by the studies reviewed regarding the relationship between digital food communication and analog food behavior is insufficient.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring the Linkages of Digital Food Communication and Analog Food Behavior: A Scoping Review

Bartelmeß

Godemann

2022

IJERPH

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The linkages of digital food communication on social media platforms and analog food behavior of social media users are widely discussed in media and research, but less differentiated. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the research field, the scientific studies are characterized by great heterogeneity in approaching the role of communication and modelling of food behavior, and thus also the conclusions on how digital food communication might be linked to analog food behavior. There is still much uncertainty regarding the relationship and underlying assumptions between digital communication and analog action. The rationale of this scoping review is to systematically summarize the findings of this heterogeneous body of knowledge. The importance and originality of this review are that it focuses explicitly on studies that provide insights into the nexus of digital food communication and analog food behavior, be it in the theoretical foundation, the results, or their interpretation. It draws on a socio-ecological model of food behavior that depicts food behavior variables in different domains and uses a differentiated categorization of food behavior (food choice, dietary intake, and eating behavior) to synthesize the results. Using the Web of Science and PubMed databases, 267 abstracts were identified and screened, of which 20 articles met the inclusion criteria and were selected for full-text analysis. The review offers some important insights on how different variables of the socio-ecological model of food behavior are related to digital food communication and different areas of analog food behavior. This review provides a more discerning understanding of which aspects of analog food behavior may be linked to social media food communication and in which ways. Implications are derived to reflect the role of communication in previous models of food behavior by adding a more nuanced and cross-cutting understanding of food communication.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Linkages of Digital Food Communication and Analog Food Behavior: A Scoping Review

Bartelmeß

Godemann

2022

IJERPH

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“…The underlying promise of self-help discourse resonates with the neo-liberal ethos of personal responsibility: you can choose to awaken; you can choose to be free, if only you shift your mindset. Wellness discourse assumes an overtly moral undertone as exemplified by the symbolic idealisation of certain foods as 'pure' and others as 'impure' and defiled Walsh, 2018, 2020;Walsh and Baker, 2020). This emphasis on corporal purification is easily weaponised by alt.…”

Section: Gamification: Calls To Participate In the Journey Through The Moral Matrixmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alt. Health Influencers: how wellness culture and web culture have been weaponised to promote conspiracy theories and far-right extremism during the COVID-19 pandemic

Baker

2022

European Journal of Cultural Studies

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This article examines the proliferation of alt. health influencers during the COVID-19 pandemic. I analyse the self-presentation strategies used by four alt. health influencers to achieve visibility and status on Instagram over a 12-month period from 11 March 2020, when the pandemic was declared by the World Health Organisation. My analysis reveals the ways in which these influencers appeal to the utopian discourses of early web culture and the underlying principles of wellness culture to build and sustain an online following. While early accounts of micro-celebrity treat participatory culture as democratising and progressive, this article demonstrates how the participatory affordances of social media have been exploited to spread misinformation, conspiratorial thinking and far-right extremism. These findings develop previous work on ‘conspirituality’ by demonstrating how wellness culture and web culture can coalesce for authoritarian ends.

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“…Others have similarly suggested that social media democratise culinary expertise and judgement, and inform consumer decisions about where to eat (Beuscart et al, 2016;Mellet et al, 2014;Onorati and Giardullo, 2020). From OCR platforms and online foodie communities like Chowhound (Watson et al, 2008) to personal food blogs (Cox and Blake, 2011), YouTube channels (Lupton, 2020) and food-themed Instagram posts (McKeown and Miller, 2020;Walsh and Baker, 2020), social media sites, apps and networks are now influential and mainstream venues of culinary judgement and representation (Lupton and Feldman, 2020). The emergence of social media food spaces and foodie 'produsers' (Bruns, 2007) coincides with new claims (and claimants) to culinary knowledge and authority.…”

Section: A Brief History Of Food Criticismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But with few exceptions (e.g. Walsh and Baker, 2020;Vila et al, 2021;Leaver et al, 2020;McKeown and Miller, 2020;Wong, 2019;Zeamer, 2018), research is largely silent about restaurant critique and representation on image-sharing apps like Instagram. This is an important omission, because Instagram is a globally popular platform and emblematic of social media's increasingly visual emphasis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Good food’ in an Instagram age: Rethinking hierarchies of culture, criticism and taste

Feldman

2021

European Journal of Cultural Studies

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Through historical, economic and technological contextualisation and empirical data analysis, this article explores the cultural purchase the image-sharing app Instagram and the printed Michelin Guide have on contemporary food criticism. Both platforms contribute to popular understandings of ‘good food’. Yet, there are important functional and discursive distinctions in how culinary criticism is done in Instagram vis-à-vis Michelin. To that end, this article focuses on London’s restaurant scene and proposes the concept of the Instagram gaze as a means of understanding the representational repertoires and knowledge claims advanced by foodies on visual social media platforms. The Instagram gaze also facilitates insight into the relationship between Instagrammers’ culinary judgements and Michelin’ s.

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Clean eating and Instagram: purity, defilement, and the idealization of food

Cited by 33 publications

References 49 publications

Exploring the Linkages of Digital Food Communication and Analog Food Behavior: A Scoping Review

Exploring the Linkages of Digital Food Communication and Analog Food Behavior: A Scoping Review

Alt. Health Influencers: how wellness culture and web culture have been weaponised to promote conspiracy theories and far-right extremism during the COVID-19 pandemic

‘Good food’ in an Instagram age: Rethinking hierarchies of culture, criticism and taste

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