What’s with #Foodgasm?
Aradhika Sharma
My friend, a professor of English at a university, recently revealed that there was a hyper sexualisation of language that probably evolved from popular culture and that had found credibility and acceptability in daily usage.
“Young people use the word ‘porn’ to label everything,” she said. “These days it seems to be the word to describe things that are pleasing.”
“Porn? As far as I know that means only one thing,” I looked up from my bowl of soup. “How can porn be used to describe anything that is not erotic?”
“Then you’ll be surprised to know that it’s being used to describe food, cars, words, music… Just name it,” she responded. “What on earth could you mean, Renu? I mean you would call this a pornographic kebab?” I said, holding up a Shami Kebab at the edge of my fork.
“Ah, my dear,” she said, accepting the kebab and biting into it. “Don’t underestimate the power of the ‘raunch’ culture. An attractive photograph of a hamburger, for example, isn’t just an attractive photograph of a hamburger and a swanky picture of flashy shoes isn’t just a picture of shoes. They’re porn, and you’d better believe that.” She delicately wiped her lips with a tissue and reached for her beer. “The message being?” I enquired. “That we use the word “porn” to describe all things that are visually inviting. It’s trendy and its accepted,” she replied.
“Hmm,” I said in a tone that encouraged her to elaborate, to do which, most professors need just a hint.
“If the succulently flavoured, tenderly marinated, slow roasted section of prime meat of a young calf that you — in a philistine manner — call a kebab, had been photographed in a way that’d make the viewer’s mouth involuntarily water with desire, it would be food porn. Understand?”
“I think I’m beginning to,” I said
Encouraged in equal measures by my obvious ignorance, her superior scholarship and the buzz of the beer, she further expanded. “Word porn, for instance, is when the sensuous beauty of a sentence or a paragraph or poem draws your senses into its mystique. It is the same with earth porn, extraordinary pictures of beautiful places on earth, so appealing that you immediately want an immersive experience of those places.”
“So, basically, pictures of food, places, fashion, cars and hairstyles that inspire desire and sensuous pleasure, right?” I asked. “But is this acceptable as the Queen’s language?”
Renu nodded approvingly, as she would at the class dunce who would have shown unexpected comprehension. “This usage of ‘porn’ isn’t the conventional practice. In fact, Twitter has created the term ‘Word Porn’ to categorise words or poems describing images that evoke pleasant feelings and even ecstasy,” she said as she signaled for a refill of beer. “It’s more likely to conjure up pictures of people talking their heads off while having sex. Shocking terminologies!” I remarked.
Nonchalantly popping a peanut into her mouth, Renu said, “If that shocks you, I wonder how you’ll react when you see me having a #Foodgasm while eating these heavenly masala peanuts?”
“Renu!” I hissed, horrified.
“It’s the new language of the brave new world, my dear. Now stop looking so shocked; else people will think you’re having a #eargasm!”
No more beer for Renu! Decided!
