I was born and raised in Italy, therefore food and food preparation have been a central part of my culture growing up. Watching my grandma “pulling the dough” for tortellini or smelling the heavenly scent of mom’s Sunday roast, sitting down in the kitchen to shell the fresh beans. I am really glad to see that these traditions are now known and appreciated worldwide. It is always fascinating for me to see how chefs and food bloggers have been inspired to create their own variations and local adaptations.
However, in the last couple of months I have noticed a disturbing new trend on social media: the funny food hacks. Often based on Italian recipes, these influencers seem to present quick meal ideas. This one, for example, starts by pouring canned pasta in a pie crust and tops it off with buttered bread slices and other ready-made savory touches:
At first I thought they were really trying to cook like that, but you just need to get at the end of one video to understand that they make them up so outrageously just to rack up video views and reactions. None, NONE, with normal tastebuds would go near that food.
And she is not alone in promoting this kind of influencer content. More and more have been popping up in my feeds, shared by friends who wanted to spread some laughter.
However, after the first one a sense of discomfort has been creeping up on me. I find it disturbing that these “funny video” influencers would use up huge quantity of food, because these “chefs” seem to be compelled to use only jumbo sizes of anything -otherwise it might not be funny enough, just for the purpose of their popularity.
Another strict rule of the Italian mamma’s cuisine is that at the table you eat everything you put in your plate, “because elsewhere there are people starving.” Indeed, food waste = mortal sin in the Italian home. This is even more poignant in COVID times, when many families, even in the richest countries (Europe, US) are struggling to put food on their tables. Not to mention that the resources of the whole planet are dangerously overexploited. In 2021 Earth Overshoot Day, the day we start to use more resources that can be reproduced in the same time, will be around August 1st, this means that we are overconsuming the Earth resources by +40%!
Sorry to be a party pooper to this trending social media food fest, but I find it morally reprehensible to promote this type of content just for the sake of a virtual laugh and a round of applauses.
So my dear readers next time you see one of these outrageous food hacks please ignore them, or better report them to the moderators of the various social media platforms, I’m sure thousands of reports can dissuade these fame-famished influencers to produce and publish this useless content.
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