Photo Credit: News Cult
In today’s world the next best thing from a painting, is food! Who knew that art could be edible? Across the board, students have become more fascinated with food and are not only eating the food, but also displaying it like a work of art.
“I think that people are drawn into capturing their food in an attractive, mouth-watering fashion through photography in order to grasp people’s attention specifically over social media. I believe that the creativity behind food has truly come to the forefront of our minds,” said Rebecca Doser ‘16, founder of Food Blog “Breakfastwithbex.” Food and art now go hand-in- hand on college campuses.
In past years, it was not possible to share and post your food creations on the Internet. There was no way to get a new recipe or review a meal, but now it is literally at our fingertips.
“It is easy to find recipes, try them out and review them. I didn’t have that. I had old- fashioned cookbooks. But now, it is amazing what you can find online these days. Social media has taken over the food world,” said Chef Russo, current culinary arts teacher at Wilton High School and former professor at Norwalk Community College.
Not only can you find recipes and reviews online, but it is also common to see people, more specifically, young adults posting what they had for lunch that day. “Food can totally be trendy too, so it is exciting to try and make new things and indulge in food fads,” said Maddie Cleworth. Cleworth, an active member of St. Lawrence University’s club, Spoon University, believes creating food can be not only recreational, but therapeutic as well.
“It is therapeutic in a way. I like food, I like being creative, and I like to see what the final outcome looks like, and more importantly, tastes like,” Cleworth said. Is that another reason why students are obsessed with food? Not only is it fun for them, but it is a stress reliever too.
Are there ways businesses can use their knowledge of students’ obsessions of food and their products to benefit themselves?
The Potsdam Bagelry store manager, Jonathan Puglia, said the restaurant definitely utilizes social media to bring in their targeted customers. “Our targeted customer are students like yourself. We want to attract them to our store, so we use photos and social media to advertise. How can you not be attracted to our sandwiches when you see them online? I feel like students look at food all the time on social media, so why not hop on the bandwagon,” said Puglia.
It is obvious that students are obsessed with food. Whether they think it is art, recreation, or a form of therapy, food is always on students’ minds. But let’s be honest… if you don’t post a photo of your food, did you really make it?