(gentle music) - Oh, hot. (bird chirping) (cat purring) Hi, my name is Mina Le. And on this channel I
talk about fashion, food. No, that's not right. Fashion, media, and culture. But today I am gonna
be talking about food. (gentle music) - Is Ozempic right for me? - Hmm. - I wanted to know if you'd like to go out to dinner with me Saturday. - I'm like super distracted at this moment because I just got my
nails done the other day. I had previously gotten
my nails done recently, but then I was at this shoot
and it was very high production because there was a manicurist on set. I have never been to a shoot
with a manicurist on set. And they wanted a
different look for my nails so they gave me these talons. I don't think there were any photographs that actually showed my hands because they were all portraits. So that was kind of like sad
'cause they look sickening. But the downside is I don't really ever
keep my nails this long. Like this is like really,
this is really long for me because I grew up playing
piano and you know, you just like can't play
piano with long nails. But I can't do anything. I feel like I'm Edward
Scissorhands right now. Okay, so yeah, today I
am talking about food, but I will be talking also about like wellness and fashion and beauty
because it's all connected. I don't know, I was
like inspired to do this because I don't know
if I'm just at the age where food becomes more topical because I perpetually feel
like my body can't bounce back from a diet of instant ramen
and iced coffee anymore or if something specifically has shifted in the cultural zeitgeist. But whatever it is, I'm not alone, because apparently zoomers
care a lot about food. Vogue Business reported last year, coming out of the pandemic
and into a recession, food has remained a status symbol for some price sensitive Gen Zs, much like a luxury item
or piece of music merch, experts agree. Out of 166 16 to 24-year-old Teen Vogue, Glamour, and
Allure readers in the US, more than half have bought what they consider to
be luxury food or drink. in the last year. Probably no other luxury
food business has gotten as much hype online as Erewhon, an expensive supermarket chain in LA. Last year, The Cut published a viral piece on zoomers reportedly working two jobs to afford daily Erewhon, spending upwards of $200 a week. I think the rise in luxury
food purchases is in part the lipstick effect at work. The lipstick effect is
this economic phenomenon where people stop spending
money on big ticket items like a fancy car or luxury vacation and instead treat
themselves to small things that make them feel good like lipstick, hence the name. It's this idea that basically no matter what the
economic circumstances are, people still want to engage in some kind of frivolous consumption
to make them feel better. - There's so many beautiful
things out there to buy, how can you possibly resist them? - So today I wanna talk about food trends, the Gen Z and millennial focus
on wellness and organics, the luxury coating of food itself, and the rise of the chefluencer. Today's video is sponsored by Audible, the world's leader in audio entertainment, audiobooks, podcast,
and Audible originals. If you haven't listened
to a thriller before, I highly recommend doing it. It's so much fun. If you wanna join me, I'm currently listening to
the House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward. It's like about this weird family who lives in this like
creepy boarded up house and their world gets rocked
when a neighbor moves in. And if creepy houses isn't
your jam, I won't be offended. Audible offers all the
latest and greatest titles that thriller genre has to offer. New members can try it free and get full access to
a growing selection of audiobooks, Audible
originals, and podcasts. You can download included
titles all you want. Visit audible/gremlita for
a free trial of Audible. (keyboard clacking) In her 2016 book "Feast for the Eyes: The
Story of Food in Photography," Susan Bright wrote, "Ultimately, food is not
only about literal taste, but also about Taste with a capital T, both the lifestyles we aspire to and the building blocks of culture itself. - People's idea of luxury
right now isn't even luxury. It's somebody being able
to go to the grocery store and get a full cart and
call it a grocery hall. - Even though it feels dystopian to say that food is a luxury, this has always been the case. The rich have always had a different diet from the middle class and the poor. For example, the food served
at Louis XIV's banquets in the 17th century were more lavish than any of the food eaten
in the rest of France. His chefs would request exotic
foods from other countries or ingredients that
were rare and expensive. Louis XIV stomach was allegedly three times the size of an average adult. (somber music) And even the manner of
eating was vastly different. One practice that was
formalized during his reign but was actually popular
during the Middle Ages, so he didn't invent this, it's the service a la francaise, which is a system by which
the dishes for each course are laid out all on the table all at once, emphasizing the aesthetic
importance of presenting the food and making sure that the dishes all like go together aesthetically. Louis' banquets also featured
musicians and dancers for additional entertainment and there was this idea that each banquet had to outdo the last. Louis put a high value on
aesthetics during his reign and his court invested heavily in France's art's, fashion and cuisine. And the impact can be felt still today with the way that people
romanticize France. According to fashion
historian Valerie Steele, "The theater of power was very important. Louis XIV wanted to make
sure that his appearance and the appearance of his courtiers were in accordance with his idea of being a modern, powerful, civilized monarch, no longer just a warrior
king from the Middle Ages, but a real kind of Sun King with all the kinds of
mythological connotations." Yeah, if you didn't know, Louis XIV was also called the Sun King. The last French queen Marie Antoinette continues to carry the
legacy of French aristocracy and I'd argue is actually
more linked with extravagance than Louis XIV, at least in like popular culture. The most famous pop culture
example is of course Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette," which features the iconic
I want candy sequence that takes absolutely no prisoners in showing the level of excess
afforded to her in real life. As Elizabeth Way writes, "Fashion and food may be the most potent symbols of
aristocratic extravagance and these ideas persist
in contemporary culture." - Let them eat cake. - For Moschino Fall
Winter 2020 collection, Jeremy Scott dressed
his models in garments that looks like cakes and pastries. The collection intended to draw attention to decadence and class inequality. References to Marie Antoinette were used to really drive home the theme. According to the runway show notes, "The confectionary cocktail
dresses stand as a sly comment on the denseness of
certain people in power." Even though you could
say that critiquing class by producing a luxury collection is having your cake and eating it too. No pun intended. Scott has said about it, "All I can do is offer respite. Even if you continue to fight,
you need that moment of joy. We all need something uplifting. My role on this Earth has only ever been to spread joy and bring happiness." (gentle music) (keyboard clacking) It seems like today, to
the mainstream at least, daily healthy groceries
is probably considered more luxurious than like
elaborate, buttery, one-off meals allied dining at a French restaurant. Though I think just because of how dominant the French
are in high culture, French food will probably always be considered
luxurious on some level, so I'm like not worried about them. Given the shift towards healthy eating, I thought I'd give a brief overview about why healthy food costs so much. There's actually so much more
than what I'm going to say, so I highly suggest reading "Food Power" by Brian L. McDonald if you wanna learn more
about his food system. I like relied on it very
heavily for all my discoveries. But I'm going to start in the 1950s. The 1950s is stereotyped as
being like the casserole era and also the era of those really weird gross-looking
savory gelatin dishes. I love being Asian. The '50s was also known for bringing convenient foods
into the American diet such as frozen orange juice concentrate and canned chicken breast, which I don't even know if they still sell because I don't think I've
ever seen that on the shelves. Packaged cake mixes were
first introduced in 1947 and by 1957 accounted for more than half of the
homemade cakes in America. People liked these pre-made
or easy to prep food options because it gave them more flexibility to manage their schedules. As Fortune described the trend in 1953, "With babies to take care of, jobs to hold down, and maids scarce, housewives look to the
food processors to perform many of the services formally carried on in the family kitchen." Changing food preferences
helped grow the food market to a $60 billion industry in 1953. $10 billion more than industry
specialists had predicted. And on the flip side, home production of foods AKA
foods grown in home gardens continued to decline from at least 1/3 of America's food
production before World War I to 18% in 1942 to just 8% in 1955. There were also all these
technological breakthroughs that made food production faster, created more secure packaging, and better preserved
food texture and flavor. What this also meant though was that many produced products
were roughly the same. As a result, companies spent more on advertising and promotional efforts to make their products more
appealing than competitors with the hopes of building brand loyalty. ♪ Soup and sandwich ♪ ♪ Soup and sandwich ♪ ♪ Have your favorite
Campbell's soup and sandwich ♪ - For example, one grocery
store advertisement from 1955 urged shoppers to stockpile
only quality IGA brand foods to prepare for a nuclear attack. By 1954, the USDA reported
that the value added by manufacturing and food
processing had risen considerably and Americans were paying
$4 billion a year more, adjusted for price changes, than they did a 1939 for
the convenience of products that transferred some of
the work of food preparation from the home to the factory. But then in the 1960s an
organic movement grew traction with principles focused on offering a sustainable, healthy,
fair, and safe alternative to the corporate monster that industrialized
agriculture had become. Organic agriculture sought to bring food production systems back to the land and operate within the limits of nature. Nowadays the term organic
is arguably greenwashing. I'd recommend reading Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" to get a better understanding
of the industry. But in short, the USDA implemented a very watery set of standards for what's considered organic. Pollan calls the large companies that produce organic food
using industrial methods as big organic. And although they grow products without synthetic
pesticides and fertilizers as required by the USDA, they often engage in long
distance transportation, energy-intensive production,
unethical migrant labor, and animal cruelty. As an example, on his book, Pollan talks about a company
called Petaluma Poultry. He picked up a chicken from this company from the supermarket that claimed to be a
sustainably farmed, free-range, and even the company gave
this chicken a name Rosie. He ended up visiting the farm and found it to be more
of an animal factory. Rosie lived in a shed
with a 20,000 other Rosies who lived very similar lives to any other industrial chicken. Other than the fact that their
feet is certified organic, the free-range label was allowed because there was a
little door in the shed that led to a narrow grassy yard, but the door remained shut until the birds were at
least five or six weeks old to prevent them from potentially
catching any diseases and then the chickens were
slaughtered only two weeks later. So for most of their life they spend it not seeing any sunlight or grass. Well, I can believe that
organic feed and fertilizers cost more than synthetic ones, which might justify a higher price for organic goods than non-organic. I also often wonder if
organic industrial farms know they can upcharge more because people assume that these farms, these companies are going above and beyond a standard commercial farm when in reality they aren't. I mean studies show Americans
are prepared to pay premium to enhance their wellbeing. Regardless the ability for
big organic to function means that smaller, more
ethical farms are squashed out. Something else I learned
in the book is that supermarket chains don't wanna work with dozens of different organic farmers. They'd rather work with one
company that is big enough to offer a complete line
of fruits and vegetables every SKU in the produce section. Which means not only are small farms having trouble finding buyers, but also that it becomes
more difficult for consumers to find and buy quality food. I think the positive thing
though is that more consumers are starting to recognize
the lie of big organic. And this is why the people
who have the means are more attracted to farmer's
markets and grocery stores like Erewhon which is a certified B Corp, a certification meaning that the company is ethical and sustainable. However, I think I should mention that large companies like Nespresso, which I feel like at least have a pretty large carbon
footprint from their coffee pods achieved the certification which makes me question how
rigorous the review process is. But whether or not Erewhon is as sustainable as they
market themselves to be, I'm still waiting for an
Erewhon a tell-all documentary. People believe it and they're
willing to pay for it. Also, there's been a growing concern over health and wellness
in the culture in general. McKinsey's latest future
of wellness research found that zoomers and
millennials are purchasing more wellness products and services than older generations across
the US, China, and the UK. Ballooning into an industry
valued at $23.5 billion in 2023. In terms of the food side of the health and wellness category, American consumers are
buying more superfoods investing in probiotic foods
to improve their gut health and approximately 28% of
Americans are consuming more protein than before. A lot of this interest
probably has to do with having more access to information, and then of course social media, and the consequent focus on appearance and desire for community. I'm sure a good number of people bought the Hailey Bieber Erewhon smoothies for the sole purpose of being
able to take part in a trend. Me included, I'm not
better than anyone else. And my honest review is that the smoothie was too sweet for my taste, but Erewhon's non-celebrity
affiliated mango smoothie, which I can't remember the name of, I tried that the last time I was in LA and it was quite good. Another reason is potentially COVID-19 and how it made us all consider our health and wellness more seriously. (gentle music) (keyboard clacking) Since the pandemic, I'd say, we've seen the rise of a
certain type of influencer, the chefluencer, AKA an influencer who makes
cooking videos for social media and who may or may not be
working as an actual chef. I would that the social
media interest in chefs mostly stem from pandemic cooking content in which more people were at home and either wanted to learn
to cook to avoid eating out or experimented in the
kitchen to pass the time. This meant that there were more people wanting to make cooking content. - [Narrator] Prep with me for my client's 16-person dinner party. - Here's the green onion. - [Narrator] Thyme, garlic,
and a little bit of butter to base the steak. - But also more people wanting
to consume said content. But we also have to talk
about Jeremy Allen White whose consistent placement on the white boy of the month
charts probably helped. White has been in Hollywood
for a bit of time now, but his role as sexy
chef Carmy in The Bear catapulted him into the spotlight and memefied kitchen lingo like yes, chef. Riding the hot chef wave last
year The Cut published a piece profiling the rise of thirst trap chefs like Cedrik Lorenzen and Anthony Randello who not only cook topless but also make explicitly central gestures to the food they're handling. - How many people were scared? Me too, I was really, really scared. - I'm not sure if these guys are killing two birds with one stone by using TikTok as both their
job and their dating app or if they've just
realized that to go viral you have to be a bit more
creative and theatrical. Whatever the reason, I think part of why they've
become so successful doing this is because of how cooking has been traditionally delegated as a woman's tour and so there is something
pleasing or cringeworthy or at least interesting about seeing a man embracing that role and putting an aggressively
masculine spin on it. To clarify, this kind of cooking
content does not work on me. I'm not like you bitches, just kidding. But I see why it's
appealing for some women. Dani Maher wrote for Esquire
about these TikTok creators and notes that for men the
kitchen is a playground. She quotes academic Irina
Mihalache who wrote, "The process of making
cooking safe for men included the emphasis on play and experimentation as the main difference between masculine cooking and
domestic suburban cooking. While women cooked out of necessity, the new man of the 1960s
cooked out of pleasure." Maher notes, "Perhaps it is this blend
of pleasure and play with the expertise these
hot chefs exemplify that is key. Those are some of the traits we associate with people who cook us luscious meals and we can't help but imagine how such traits
might extend into, say, their approach to romance." I would say that the traits
associated with a guy who cooks for fun include
creativity, passion, discipline, and knowledge of how to use his hands. And imagining someone who loves
to cook for you every meal, a task that many of us don't enjoy doing or at least I don't enjoy
doing is also appealing. Woman chefs have benefited too though. Gabbriette who had a bit of a following from being in the band Nasty
Cherry exploded in popularity when she started producing cooking videos. While her food looks good, I think the whole package
of being a pretty girl with a strong aesthetic who has a hobby is what
makes her successful. Viktoriia Vasileva writes in her Substack, "It's cool to be hot but in today's oversaturated
influencer economy, it's even cooler if you
are hot and have a hobby. It's also refreshing
to see content creators care about something more than the likes and comments that they get." Fashion model food content
is nothing new, okay? There's a bunch of videos on YouTube of Victoria's Secret models vlogging about what they eat in a day. Usually it's less well received the non-model food
influencer content I find, which I'll talk about later, but what makes Gabbriette
interesting is that she breaks away from the mold of like acai bowls and superfood powders to like actual foods that could
be appealing to non-models such as empanadas and scallop crudo. She still does have a mostly
health conscious way of eating. She often makes recipes
that are grain free with vegan ingredients, but it seems like she's
actually interested in making food that she wants to eat and not just making food that
she's like supposed to eat. This is all on top of having
actual culinary skills, which cannot be said for some models. I think what works for Gabbriette is that she doesn't try to be relatable. I think especially in the realm of food, a lot of people have difficulty
seeing models as relatable. Being able to cook good food and recreate recipes of
existing supermarket products is incredibly impressive and it's a very niche skill. And something that I
think people would watch even if like the person
making this content wasn't conventionally attractive, but obviously it still helps if you are. That's not to say that every
model with cooking skills is getting positive attention though. Nara Smith, a model and home cook became notorious on TikTok
for her slow cooking videos, and I really mean slow cooking. - [Nara] Toddlers requested
some yogurt this morning and we were running low, so I just decided to make it myself. - [Mina] Nara is a stay-at-home mom. She has two young kids, is pregnant, and spends most of her
day cooking for her family while wearing beautiful outfits. Her husband is also a model and a Mormon, which has caused many people to believe that they're pushing Mormon propaganda. I wanna add though that
Nara has recently said she's not a practicing Mormon and the two were not married in a temple. - I don't wear garments, I
didn't get married in the temple. Both me and my husband
are on our own journeys and figuring out how we
want to raise our kids. - I personally have no issue with Nara. And what I find really weird
about all of this is that she's sort of become the poster child for the whole tradwife movement when to my knowledge, she has never said her lifestyle is better than other people's and she's never said that woman
like shouldn't be working. She hasn't said anything crazy. And she's also not even fully a stay-at-home mom in my opinion, because in my opinion, anyone who's monetizing
content on TikTok is not a stay-at-home mom. They are like a work from home mom. She's a content creator. And also while I think that she probably loves cooking like genuinely, I highly doubt that she
spends this much time cooking every single thing that her kids eat. But also if she had the
time and she loves to do it, then like who cares? I think the root cause of people's fury towards Nara Smith is
because they feel that she's encapsulating like the
perfect ideal of motherhood that's been spoonfed to all
of us by Western society. She's a rich young mom who spends a lot of time
nurturing her family. She loves doing it, and she's beautiful, and never seems stressed
and never complains online. And it's also not lost
in me that she's Black and Black women are held to
remarkably unfair standards, especially when it comes to motherhood. The writer of the
Substack CartoonsHateHer, wrote a really great essay on the feeling of guilt a lot of mothers have that I think is relevant and also really nice because she writes like
as a mother herself. She writes, "This is one reason that
mom discourse is so toxic. When you say that you've
made a certain decision, for example, working versus staying home or using screens versus not using screens, you are implying that the other choice is harmful to children, or at least not beneficial. You can say, this is just me, I don't judge anyone who
does things differently as I often do, but the implication is there. You made the choice for a reason. Yes, every kid is different, but on some level you think
you chose the better thing, otherwise, why would you have chosen it? It can be difficult to reach
across the aisle sometimes and talk with women who have made all the opposite decisions we have, feeling neither judgmental
of them or judged by them." (gentle music) (keyboard clacking) Regardless of how we feel
towards certain food influencers, the one thing that's
true is that food is in. And brands who are always quick to cash in on a mainstream interest are pivoting towards food as well. Technically this isn't
like a super new idea. Giorgio Armani made history in 1998 when he opened the first
luxury branded restaurant, the Emporio Armani cafe in Paris. At the time, Armani told
Forbes that he wanted a new concept to give customers
a break from shopping, a place to have lunch
or a drink after work. But the difference is in those days, branded restaurants were developed to keep customers in the store longer with the hope that they would spend more. It was a sort of like bonus
thing for existing clients. But now there are restaurants designed as marketing attractions with the goal of acquiring new customers. Zoe Hofman writes for nss magazine, "Not only does it increase revenue, but it also solidifies brands as more than just places to buy clothes, they become cultural elements of society, recognized for more
than their collections. And of course, working
with Michelin-starred chefs means the food is delicious, which is always a positive point." These restaurants allow luxury brands to fold in more people
into their brand community without having to compromise
their clothing prices. A Gucci Osteria burger at
their Beverly Hills location will cost you about
$48 before tax and tip, which is still considered
quite a lot for a burger, but is much more affordable compared to anything they
sell at their boutiques. Ralph Lauren actually offers
two tiers of food pricing, a model that mimics how the brand offers both expensive and cheaper clothing lines. Their Polo Bar in Manhattan qualifies for a $3 sign rating I think. But for anyone who doesn't
pay $45 for a branzino, but who still wants to be folded into the Ralph Lauren brand, well lucky for them they
can purchase a latte from the brand's coffee stand
Ralph's Coffee for under $10. Having drank a luxury branded
coffee from a redacted brand because you know, I'm not
trying to start any drama, I can say there's nothing really special about branded coffee, at least the one I had. The only thing that's special
is the logoed coffee cup, which you can post on social
media for extra clout. And speaking of being in the
age of social media advertising fashion brands are pressured to go viral, which means they wanna create spectacles worthy of sharing online. I talked about how runway shows have become more interactive
in a previous video, but similarly fashion branded
food installations and dinners have also sprung up to compel invited influencers and fashion
writers to make content. For example, the jewelry brand Mejuri hosted a gelato popup and
Chin Chin in London Soho where guests could browse
the latest collection while eating gelato. This was after running an ad campaign that showed pictures of hands
holding food by the way. Also being able to cross
over into multiple industries allows brands to outreach influencers from different categories. For example, a clothing brand
launching a homeware line can now gift branded,
I don't know, candles to an interior decorator influencer. And you know, in a similar vein, more films and TV shows these
days are also crossing genres so that they can be listed under multiple different streaming lists like they can be listed under
top comedies of the month and top romances of the month. It's rare now for a movie
to just be a straight comedy because it's not as marketable. I also feel like it might be
a loophole for award season, which is why a bunch of my
friends and I were confused that The Bear was nominated for like best comedy in the TV category. Like sure there are funny moments, but I wouldn't really consider it a comedy like it's kind of dark. It just like sounded like to me that they didn't wanna compete in the same category as Succession, which is a show that I actually think is funnier than The Bear but was considered a
drama during award season. But honestly, food is
the universal language and you don't have to be a food influencer to post food on your account. A lot of influencers,
regardless of their niche, will post about their meals. Monica Titton explains, "Food is often used instrumentally
by a fashion influencer as an index of their
persona's authenticity. Nothing signals real life credibility like the very human and
universal need to eat. And on social media,
nothing engages followers like an enticing photograph of a meal." It's interesting though that we're seeing the rise of food posting and food events in the fashion scene given the fashion industry's history of encouraging starvation
to get a thin body ideal. I think this is why when a model or in particular like a thin influencer when they post a lot about food online, it's not always as well received. For instance, like back in February 2023, Bella Hadid said in an interview that her favorite snack was pizza. - Probably pizza at least once a day. It's always like a go-to
'cause it always, you know, it tastes good every time. - The interview segment
was posted onto TikTok where everyone had a field day with many people proclaiming that pizza was not actually
Bella's favorite food. I actually do think
Bella Hadid loves pizza, a hot take maybe. And at the risk of
sounding like a stalker, but I swear I just did a
quick Google search yesterday. In 2015, she name dropped her
favorite New York pizza places in a Fashionista interview. They include if you're interested, Gemma's, Bar Pitti, and The Bowery. She's also talked about pizza in a number of other
interviews over the years and has been photographed plenty of times with pizza in hand. I think what this annoyance
actually stems from, and Bella was just a scapegoat for this, but it really comes down to the
overall distrust people have towards thin people eating junk food, combined with the annoyance
towards celebrities pretending to be more
relatable than they are. To the first point, pizza seems to be the number one choice when it comes down to thing
girls posing with food and therefore is the food that most people eye with suspicion. For example, apparently an
annual tradition following the Victoria's Secret fashion show, when those were still a thing, with a giant pizza party
among all the models. There's nothing unique about
a celebratory pizza party, but we should consider the context. For years fashion magazines glorified these Victoria's Secret models and spread unhealthy dieting tips to bully the rest of us into
trying to look like them. And rather than blaming the industry for pushing this propaganda, a lot of people instead blamed the models. So a pizza party splurge, whether or not it actually happened sounded unrealistic to many
people read as a subtle flex that these models could just eat badly and still look the way that they do, or it sounded like
these models were trying to absolve themselves from perpetuating toxic beauty standards. - Pizza. - Pizza. - Pizza. - Lily's having a pizza party after this. - I've talked to a lot of models and many of them at
least like nowadays are really like not judgmental
about other people's bodies and are actually very
judgmental about their own because they're sort of told
like during their entire career that their bodies are the
only things worthy about them. While I think sometimes
models can internalize that and then become responsible for pushing unhealthy dieting advice, like when Kate Moss infamously said, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels," a lot of them are just
as negatively affected by the industry's ideals
as the rest of us. Because let's face it, the fashion industry has
always been telling people they need to be thinner and
what to eat and what not to eat. A Vogue article that was
written in 1913 titled "The Diet's The Thing"
had an entire section dedicated to starvation methods in order to lose five
to 10 pounds each month. And yet despite these
attitudes towards eating the fashion industry
still loves to photograph a skinny model next to bountiful foods. A framing that fashion
scholar Jess Berry calls the gluttonous gamine. Barry explains that these images
explore women's consumption as metaphorical of sexual appetite and argues that food is portrayed as either seduction or revulsion. Philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin
explored the dichotomy between classical and grotesque bodies that I think we can apply to this. In his definition, the classical body is the body of Greek sculpture and Renaissance paintings. A body that possesses no open orifices. For Bakhtin, the grotesque body on the
other hand is one that like eats drinks, defecate, copulates, becomes pregnant, et cetera. It embraces mutable human anatomy. It's like the real life version and the classical is like the Barbie doll. The fashion industry has historically emphasized the classical body by making their thin models into objects that pose like prettily next to food. They're usually not eating the food. That's why the October
2010 Vogue Paris issue, which featured an editorial with plus-size model Crystal Renn was like shocking at the time. The photos were shot by Terry Richardson and mostly consisted of Renn feasting on a massive plate of spaghetti, various meats, seafood, and cheese. Amy Odell reported for
The Cut at the time, "The mammoth of an issue is already riding on plenty of hype, and these images have just
the kind of shock value that will aid that effort. You know, look at the
plus-size model eating. Ew yuck food bleh. Despite the mini-explosion
of plus-size models in fashion magazines over the past year, fashion still seems to
be having a hard time not gawking at them." Not only is Crystal eating,
but she's plus-size too. And what Odell refers
to in her report is that these pictures offer a new
kind of fetish to appear, the one that can only see fat bodies as an archetype of voluptuous Venus and they're not really a step forward towards breaking the barrier
between fashion and food. (gentle music) (keyboard clacking) I do feel like the increased
interest in food is less about food itself ironically and more about aligning with the status markers of rich celebrities as well as conveying a thin body type, which is why it's mostly healthy food that's being talked about. And this is made clear to me about the rise in drugs like Ozempic
happening at the same time. Ozempic is a semaglutide drug that famously has appetite
reduction side effects and is being increasingly
misused as a weight loss method rather than to help regulate diabetes, which is what it was
originally designed for. CNN reported in October last year with 1.7% of America's population prescribed a semaglutide drug in 2023 up 40 folds in the past years that could spell serious
trouble for the food industry. I also feel like that figure, that percentage is like quite low because I'm sure there
are a bunch of people who are not actually prescribed Ozempic and are kind of like
doing it under the table. Even though Ozempic is
still a new trend though there are some rising
concerns among industry people that consumers will buy less food because they won't be as hungry. However, because of how
expensive Ozempic is without insurance it's around
$1,000 for a monthly supply and have to keep taking it
or your appetite comes back. I think a lot of people don't realize that like you basically have
to take it forever. So the price for one and then the fact that it's
only available as an injection, which could scare some
needle-phobic people, these things can prevent
a majority of people from taking it. ConAgra CEO Sean Connolly said that any significant drop in calorie
consumption due to the drugs is a long way off. But if the meds do gain traction, he said the company would
respond with new products. "Let's say they go to smaller portions, then we evolve the innovations, and we design smaller portions. And if they switch to
different types of nutrients, we switch to different types of nutrients. If they change the kind of
pack sizes they snack on, we'll change that." Food trends shift every so often like any other consumer goods. So big companies have had some practice in introducing or discontinuing products to match people's evolving tastes. For example, Pepsi Cola and
Coca-Cola have already started offering their products in smaller sizes for customers who want
help with portion control or who want to spend less 'cause I think they cost less
or they should cost less. However, Bernstein analyst Alexia Howard cautions that drugs like
Ozempic have the potential to have a bigger impact
on food consumption than arguably anything
that we've seen before. That's daunting. Changes won't happen overnight, she notes, but it could be long lasting. I'm personally hoping that
Ozempic, Wegovy, similar drugs, that they'll never become so impactful that they'll actually change
the entire food industry, though I also think that like reading the responses
big snack has made is kind of worrisome and gross. Like the concerns are never
about public health and safety and only about how to sell
more snacks, which is fabulous. I love corporate responsibility. What I do hope to happen is just like snacks being healthier. We do have a problem in America with how unhealthy a lot of these products that are getting pushed onto
the American public are. So I'm for like healthier snacks, but I hope it's not because they feel like
everyone's taking dieting drugs. Okay, anyway, this is
the end of the video. Thank you so much for sticking around. As always, I hope you have
a lovely rest of your day. Would love to know what your thoughts are on the trendification of food and I'll see you next time. Bye. (lips smacking) (gentle music)
