McKenna Esteb
3/2/17
February Blog Post

         People constantly underrate the power food has over our culture in America. Not only food but food in the media. The article How food television is changing America brought to my attention how media’s rigid format has changed the way we view food.

         Everything is about competition, media figured out a while ago that the ultimate concoction for success is competition, America loves nothing more than to watch people battle it out in the most unique and high stress situations. Therefor media gave us foodnetwork which grants us with many sport-style competitive cooking shows, almost turning food into a reality tv show. It’s a common want for us to “want to watch people with extraordinary skills”. Not only is the competitive twist to food so enrapturing to the American audience do to the unrealistic twist on how food is made, but they’ve started to sell food in different ways in order to sell a certain image.

         Many of the “men that appear on food shows — like Anthony Bourdain and Guy Fieri — have a hyper masculine persona. It’s almost as if they’re overcompensating for the traditional feminine aura of home cooking”. I always knew the media was big on selling image but I never knew that they incorporated this into everything, even food.

         It is interesting to see that this is what our society buys into and that we need to incorporate gender stereotypes even when it comes to food. I believe that by watching these shows on tv even something like foodnetwork can have an impact on how we view society and shape societal standards.