Monday, August 12, 2013
L.V. Anderson says, “Hey Food Writers, Stop Comparing Food to Women!”
“Comparing food and drink to women is so de rigueur in food writing that it frequently appears in headlines above articles that don’t otherwise make the comparison. . . . These metaphors let writers get creative, inject a little sexiness into their writing, and signal a certain devil-may-care attitude. And they need to stop,” writes L.V. Anderson, who edits the food and drink sections of the daily online magazine Slate. She provides numerous examples of how food is compared to women and why the metaphor is used. And she points out that such comparisons not only objectify women but also make certain assumptions about the audience. It’s a short piece, but Anderson has packed a lot into it. It’s another of those articles that give us something to think about in a new way —something we’ve perhaps never noticed before but that will jump out at us when we read or hear food descriptions from now on.
