Deep-fried cupcakes? This Is Why You’re Fat
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Do you like to look at pictures of ‘deliciously gross food’ such as this cupcake that has been deep fried and then drenched in chocolate syrup and topped off with sprinkles?
Well, someone out there does. Within three days of launching this month, a blog and website dedicated to food porn -- the aptly titled ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com -- pulled in more than 3 million pages views. (The blog’s subtitle: Where dreams become heart attacks.)
‘We thought it was a very good idea, but we were both very surprised at how it caught on.’ That’s one of the co-creators -- she prefers to be identified as Creator No. 1 and declines to be identified because she and her partner are in the media and want to avoid making themselves part of the story behind the blog, to keep the focus on the food.
A little mystery never hurt either.
‘It started because we were joking about how there are all these really nasty pictures of fatty foods floating around on the Internet. We’re like, ‘Do people really eat this? Are people posting these photos as a badge of honor?’’
They started collecting images on Feb. 1 and launched Feb. 9, and it’s been pinging around the Internet ever since, thanks in no small part to mentions by Time, The Atlantic, the New York Times, etc.
The blog is all about the users: Photos are submitted and posted with very little commentary, beyond a description and a source credit. ‘We want to let the food speak for itself, and appeal to that community aspect,’ Creator No. 1 said.
That’s not to say it’s a free-for-all. There is an editorial stamp on it all -- and an effort to stay above the fray. ‘We’ve had some people ask if we would post images of obese people.’ The answer was no. The New York-based creators have already been approached by literary agents and agents who are interested in taking ThisIsWhyYoureFat ‘into other forms,’ she said.
‘There is a sort of irony in it, hence the name. We all get that eating, a, whatever, a 20-cream stuffed Oreo isn’t going to be good for you ... so it’s kind of like a shared joke, not meant to be taken too seriously. But at the same time, it does provide a little bit of social commentary about U.S. overindulgence.’
-- Rene Lynch
