Food nerds: it is time to step away from the smart phone. Unless of course you want to be mocked by a melancholy cupcake or snacked on by an epicurious grizzly bear with an Instagram account.
“Eat it Don’t Tweet It” puts the food photo-obsessed on blast. The video chronicles the journey of a food snob in a knit hat who fashions himself the “culinary paparazzi" or "gastronomic Annie Leibowitz” and sings like he’s auditioning for a Cure cover band. His apparent goal is to remind his Facebook friends that “it’s unthinkable to dine out and not record it; I want the world to know I can f------- afford it.”
Ouch! Why is the scathing satirical YouTube video taking aim at food photo enthusiasts?
“We're not really trying to get people to stop posting pics of food and we don't hate hipsters,” said Peter Furia, who directed, produced, and co-wrote the lyrics for the video for American Hipster. “We just enjoy offering some comedic commentary on trends we see around us that can sometimes get ridiculous.”
American Hipster, which posts daily YouTube videos that “profile trendsetters,” collaborated with The Key of Awesome which creates videos “spoofing pop music, pop culture and pop tarts” (Obamagirl is on their list of contributors).
And with already more than 105,000 views, the video is clearly striking a chord.
Furia told TODAY.com that he was inspired by a friend. “Oh man, I might get in trouble for this... Dana, if you're reading this, don't take it personally. You're an awesome person and we should grab a bite and catch up sometime when I'm back in Seattle, but your food porn drives me crazy...”
While not everyone is interested in the gourmet fare you’re eating, you can’t argue that food and photo pairing is going the way of pizza and beer. Many (including this writer) find food shots utterly craveable.
“What has been really cool to see though are the people that are defending food porn,” Furia said. “One guy explained that eating meals is a fundamentally social activity and that posting pictures of food for your friends is a great way to share good restaurant finds, etc. Honestly, I can't argue with that. Truth be told, I use Yelp practically every day.”
I photographed and tweeted every meal for a year, and honestly, didn’t always get great feedback. But that might be because I’m not exactly eating haute cuisine for every meal. There are only so many photos of instant oatmeal your followers can tolerate before they stop clicking and start rolling their eyes. As the cupcake in the video advises, “No one gives a damn about what you post.”
Tell us, do you take food photos when you go out to eat? Does it bother you when others tweet their food photos?
Matthew Moll is a multi-media journalist living in New York. You can follow his local food tweets at @tasteoflocal.