Attack of the Food Snobs
Very unfair! Last week, the media went after ketchup. Is nothing sacred? Food snobs are attacking President Trump for having ketchup with his steak. Benny Johnson of the Independent Journal Review spilled the beans. Acting on a tip, he staked out the steakhouse in Trump’s Washington hotel. He told the world how Trump orders a well-done steak with ketchup – always.
“Twitter was not happy,” said the Huffington Post. “Foodies aghast,” reported the San Francisco Chronicle. “Trump’s well-done steak dinner was an ethical mess,” according to Vanity Fair.
Food to Signal Virtue and Status
In truth, food choices have long been a handy tool for questioning a person’s virtue or status. The Trump food fuss is nothing new. Weight bias taps into these attitudes.
People employ food to to claim their place in the social order. Frank Bruni explains in the New York Times:
The farmers’ market crowd looks down on the Whole Foods rabble, who tsk-tsk at the Trader Joe’s hoi-polloi. The Café Grumpy evangelists laugh dismissively at the Starbucks aficionados.
Food is the new fashion: our outward advertisement of who we are.
Seriously. Whatever your opinion of Trump. Please. Leave the man’s food alone. Let food be food. It should not be a political statement or a badge of virtue. Food is not medicine. Food is first and foremost nourishment. Enjoy it in peace and good health.
For a thoughtful essay on why this presidential feeding frenzy deserves your attention, click here.
Ketchup Cup, photograph © Steven Depolo / flickr
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March 6, 2017