Food as a Facade

The New York Times is one of my favorite publications to read, and I particularly enjoy the Dining & Wine section. I read this article today, and I find it fascinating. It represents what the Times does best and why I love reading this newspaper--picking a small trend or habit and going deeper and exploring its cultural impact. The article, headlined "For Actresses, Is a Big Appetite Part of theShow?" by Jeff Gordinier explores a cliche in celebrity interviews and feature stories: food.

As a reader, I've noticed exactly what Gordinier points out: celebrity feature stories always describe a meal with the reporter, with a female celebrity gushing over how much she loves a juicy steak or extra cheesy pasta. Gordinier calls these documented instances of public eating, or DIPE for short. In the article, some argue that actresses purposely drop lines about how much they love to pig out to prove to readers that they are "just like everyone else."

Personally, I like the social call-out on actresses and their publicists who are not so inconspicuously shaping their clients' facades because it presents fair sides to both arguments; the superficiality of DIPE and the pressure for actresses to keep slim figures. Check out the article for yourself. Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/dining/16interview.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=dining