INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Don't ask how many calories a gargantuan burger like this contains
I've just watched a fresh turkey being covered in fragments of cheese-flavoured crisps and then stuffed with what looks like three kilos
of cheddar.The video has more than four million views on YouTube
Call it a stunt, call it a travesty, whatever you make of it this is food - but not as you know it.It's an extreme example of a so-called
"food porn" video, a viral clip of an excessively indulgent recipe designed to shock or delight in equal measure
While responses to the cheese-stuffed turkey video were mixed to say the least, videos that revel in stringy, gooey melted cheese, lashings
of melted chocolate, or heinous quantities of barbecue sauce are all the rage
Observe a rainbow bagel filled with cream cheese or a 100-layer lasagne in the making.Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Thanks to food colourings, rainbow bagels are now all the rage
They are shared far and wide on social media and
evidence is growing to suggest that they are changing consumer expectations
Some of the most well-known creators behind these videos include Tasty, BuzzFeed Brand, Twisted, Spoon University and Chefclub.Their clips
take the form of visual recipes, usually filmed in a top-down format, focusing entirely on the food itself and cooking utensils
The final shots often show slow-motion close-ups of the resulting dish."For me, watching those kind of things the initial reaction is,
they're disgusting, they're so gross, they're also incredibly wasteful, they're ludicrously unhealthy," says Thom Eagle, food writer and
freelance chef."The term 'food porn' is apt because it's completely unrealistic."Image copyrightTastyImage caption
Close
up shots of the final product are a must for online food videos
And yet Mr Eagle, who specialises in modern restaurant
cuisine and fermentation recipes, has witnessed the power of social media
Stick a dish on Instagram, he says, and the punters will come looking: "That's what sells the most the next day at the restaurant."People
nowadays like to eat exactly what they want, when they want it, and are - for instance - increasingly using food delivery apps for that
More Technology of BusinessThe meal delivery market in the UK grew 13.4% year-on-year in 2018 and is up again this year, according to
industry data, says Kim Malley at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).It's a safe bet that apps have revolutionised
the sector, she says.But what about videos of food? There are clues there too
The AHDB tracks consumer opinion on cooking and food purchasing habits
The body asks what sources people use to inspire their cooking at home
"12% claim that they've looked at YouTube for recipe inspiration," she says
"To put that into perspective, in 2015 that was only at 4%."Image copyrightDish WorksImage caption
Dish Works recommends
slow motion shots of cheese or condiments
Firms that make the ingredients we cook with are keen to cash in on the
One marketing agency that works with brands to make social media videos in this style is Dish Works, based in Pennsylvania."I think that
cheese is maybe one of the sexiest things you can use in a video," says Mary Bigham, president and co-founder
"When you see cheese pulls and melty, bubbly cheese, you gotta stop and look at it."She calls it "stretch appeal" and says her team have a
heat gun in their studio so that when pizzas, tacos or quesadillas are being filmed, the cheese can be coaxed to just the right level of
lusciousness.This visual language is not confined to cheese
Ms Bigham says that condiments like ketchup or mayonnaise, dressings and unctuous sauces poured in slow motion can all improve the
likelihood that viewers will salivate over of the final video.Image copyrightRaclette NYCImage caption
Raclette NYC
caused a stir on the internet with its melted cheese video
One New York restaurant capitalised on exactly this a few years
Raclette NYC serves raclette, a Swiss cheese that is usually brought to the table heated and melting
It is then scraped on to other things on your plate.Raclette NYC posted a video showing off its dishes online and was immediately swamped
with eight million views online overnight
The next day, the restaurant was overwhelmed with customers and the head chef had to hire 10 new staff members to cope with demand.This is
the effect food companies, restaurants and influencers are all chasing.Ms Bigham says that the general goal for many purveyors of food porn
is to nudge the viewer into wanting to try to make the dish at home for themselves
It looks delicious - and straightforward to make - so why not?That does raise a question, though
As Mr Eagle points out, a lot of these recipes are unhealthy
Cheese is high in salt and saturated fat - a little goes a long way
Plus, the portion sizes in many viral food videos are gargantuan
For her part, Ms Bigham argues she's never had a client request a video that she felt was unreasonably unhealthy.Image copyrightChristian
SmithImage caption
Nutritionists like Roberta Alessandrini say it is healthier to cook your own food
But
if excess is part of what makes many food videos go viral, that could be bad news for the obesity epidemic."My opinion is that these videos,
they really show recipes which are calorific, they contain an excessive amount of fat," says Roberta Alessandrini, a nutritionist at Queen
Mary University of London, referring to widely shared clips of deep-fried pizzas and towering burgers."They don't really depict an idea of
what a healthy diet should be
On the other [hand] I think that cooking is a positive thing."Dr Alessandrini says research indicates that people who cook at home often
have better diets overall.If constructing the occasional 100-layer lasagne gets them into the kitchen, perhaps the overall effect might be a
