Food Ethics and Food porn: When Food Becomes a Simulacrum

Abstract

The contribution analyses the relationship between ethics and the representation of food in the digital media society, with particular attention to the phenomenon of food porn in social media. In this context, food is influenced more by the visual aspect of food than by its nutritional value, responding to a more emotional and aesthetic need for well-being. Food porn follows in the wake of a visual tradition ranging from 17th century still lifes, through cinema to contemporary advertising and artificial intelligence, transforming food into a simulacrum and a symbol of the performance society. The food experience becomes individualistic and visual, but can take on an ethical value if it does not degenerate into wasteful or harmful food behaviour and encourages sharing and a sense of community. Food porn, in this direction, could foster a new food education based on personal well-being, including physical and mental health and food justice.