Jonatan Leer and Stinne Gunder Strøm Krogager, "Food Porn: Food Aesthetics in a Digital Age" (Bristol UP, 2026)

Food porn isn't just about pretty pictures of food—it's a complex cultural force shaping how we desire, consume, and even politicize food in the digital age. In their groundbreaking 2026 book, Jonatan Leer and Stinne Gunder Strøm Krogager dismantle the myth that food porn is simply aesthetic indulgence, revealing it as a dynamic, context-dependent phenomenon that intersects with gender, class, authenticity, and power. They trace the term’s roots from Roland Barthes’ 1950s 'ornamental cuisine' to 1970s 'gastroporn,' showing how digital platforms like TikTok have transformed food from a nourishing act into a performative spectacle—where close-ups, sound design, and transgressive mukbangs amplify desire, discomfort, and even political messaging. The authors argue that food porn is not one style but an umbrella term encompassing everything from hyper-stylized Instagram posts to populist politicians' deliberately unpolished meals. What’s most striking? The book reveals that 'bad' food porn—like a blurry photo of plain pasta—can be deeply political, used to signal authenticity and reject elite aesthetics. This isn’t just about taste; it’s about who gets to define it, and how visual culture reinforces social hierarchies. The authors’ work exposes the hidden labor behind food’s digital image: the curated perfection of 'mastery' techniques, the sexualization of female servers in themed restaurants, and the global, subcultural debates over what counts as 'good' or 'bad' taste.