foodie blog #10

Ive spent the entire semester looking at food on social media. Ive looked at the positives, the negatives, what makes people so famous, and what it takes to make a great food post.

I feel as if by now I know all the ins and outs of the food blogosphere and have decided to maybe try my shot at making my own food accounts. I've thought about it a lot and while restaurants are dope and the food is always so beautiful and amazing, I think I'm going to try my hand at making my own recipes at home, or combining different ones and posting about it. I want to do all natural food and pretty healthy so it has less of a negative impact on people.

So today I have my first post!

The other day I was stumbling upon Pintrest and noticed a post that said different vegetarian steaks. I'm a vegetarian so this really intrigued me! One of them was grilled watermelon and my mouth literally started watering. Now that its summer, or at least feels like it, I've been craving fresh, light, and delicious salads. So I clicked on it to see how you grilled a watermelon and the rest is history.

Here's the recipe that I came up with:
-Arugula
-2 Slices of Watermelon
-Olive Oil
-1/4 cup of chick peas
-1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes
-Goat cheese
-Balsamic vingar

Dressing:
-1/4 cup of olive oil
-a little garlic
-half a squeezed lemon
-salt and pepper to taste

-I marinated the watermelon with olive oil and pressing it in our George Forman for 7 minutes
-I laid out the arugula in at the bowl and put the chick peas and halved cherry tomatoes on top
-Then, I put the grilled watermelon on
-Next, I sprinkled goat cheese and drizzled a little balsamic
-Lastly, I drizzled some of the dressing on top

and.....
....
.....
BON APPETIT!



WOW! I even tried some of the tricks i read about for photography!

This one is definitely worth a try!

foodie post #9

Food in photos often appears far more beautiful than the food we are served at restaurants. Although it usually tastes good, we are often left wondering how it could possibly look so different. In doing research for professional food photography they have a few tricks up their sleeves.

They use blow torches to perfectly toast the breads, glue to hold the pieces together perfectly, heated soaps and cotton balls to give off smoke, and anti acid to make soda extra bubbly. These make the food look sooo irresistible that people are forced to go get it immediately!

McDonald's had such an issue with the difference between how the food looked and how their photos looked, that customers began to complain and claim they must be completely different ingredients. The company responded to this backlash by revealing all of their secrets on a youtube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSd0keSj2W8


If the professionals use so many behind the scene hacks to make their food look hood, how do amateur foodies take such picture perfect photos in restaurants? Upon researching this, i found that there are countless articles revealing tips how to make your food look great in photos. Here are the top ones:



You too can take picture perfect photos to make your followers envious of you and create business for restaurants if you follow the steps above!

Here are some beautiful food pics!

Foodie Post #8

Every week I come to this blog to talk about the joys of sharing food on social media. It can show healthy food, delicious food, show your accomplishments and your personality, and links foodies all around the world. However, there are some ways that social media can affect people's eating that is less positive. Last week I talked about the capacity for these posts to make people obese. Now I am going to talk about the capability for social media to spark eating disorders and unhappiness with one's body.

Because of the excessive time we spend on social media everyday, we are exposed the the going ons in peoples lives at every step of the way. More and more, we begin to compare ourselves to the people on our newsfeed. We see people get engage, get jobs, go on extravagant resorts, and look absolutely amazing at huge events. Every time we see these posts, whether consciously or subconsciously, we compare ourselves to them and allow them to make us feel worse about ourselves.  Hashtags such as "#thighgap" and "#thinstagram" make it all to easy for someone to get the "inspiration" they need to continue being anorexic. There are also pro eating disorder chatrooms online for people who need support to continue their disease, and other people help them.

I am not saying that social media is the cause of 30 million Americans who suffer from various eating disorders, but it is proven that it fuels them. On top of comparison to others, some scientists found that people can force themselves to feel full by just looking at food videos and photos. It is the opposite affect of my last blog post, but can still hold true for some people. With all of the food related posts, anorexic people can convince themselves they are full just from scrolling down their news feed.

I cannot count the number of times my friends will talk about how beautiful someone is on instragram or how perfect their life seems. The truth is, we do not really know them or how their life really is. Luckily there have been movements for self love and many articles written about not judging a profile by its cover. Although people still suffer from self hate and eating disorders, hopefully there will be a turn around to show self love and honesty on social media.

Foodie Post #7

I often find myself laying in bed at night looking at my social media and instantly getting hungry. It seems like my entire instagram is dedicated to food at times. However, no one posts just your run of the mill food, this is DELICIOUS and beautifully appetizing dishes and snacks that people are proud of. So, when I am laying there, I am tempted to eat a bed time snack.

This isn't just a night time thing. I am often inspired by and made hungry by these photos on my feed. This realization got me thinking that there's no way that I am the only person who feels this way. Then I started to think, what if social media is aiding in the rise of obesity in America. I decided to search it and found this interesting article: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/12/14/how-social-media-may-be-causing-to-gain-weight.html

In summary of the article, 63% of millennials' feeds are clogged with food on a day to day basis and 70% of household meals are inspired by digital media in some way. Different hashtags and location sharing make these pictures easier to find and pop up more often. It is proven that the brain goes through changes when it sees food photos that make the person very hungry or simply just want to eat.

However, the weight of the viewer had a direct correlation to the areas of the brain that were activated. Obese individuals brains were activated in reward or pleasure centers, while healthy weight individuals' brains were activated in cognitive centers.

This intrigued me. So while social media food posts might not alter people who are already at an healthy weight, it might be making overweight people gain weight more rapidly.

Honestly, I think it makes anyone inspired to try new things, however, the overabundance of pictures and emphasis on food can be unhealthy for America.

Foodie Post #6

I stumbled upon an article called "Social Media Swaying Restaurant-Goers" on Food Business News, and I found out some pretty interesting statistics. I have talked a lot about the power of food on social media in influencing purchases and visiting restaurants, but I had no idea how extreme it was. 

According to this article, 75% of diners browse social media and choose a place to eat based on the photos they see. Almost half the diners nationally said they take photos of their food to post on social media. Almost 20% of diners said they even pick specific restaurants just to take food pictures. 

At the restaurant, 60% of people stop their friends from eating so they can take a photo while 50% of people say they take photos of everyones meals at the table, and even 5% said they take photos of food from different tables. Most of the food on social media is trendy food such as ramen noodles and avocado toast. 

These statistics seem crazy, however I witness this in everyday life. My friends all have food instagrams, all have their phones out at meals, and I am often stopped before eating to take pictures. We see pictures of food an HAVE to go there. I always put my good looking food on my snap chat stories. It blows my mind how much we believe our food defines our identity. I always want to appear be eating interesting, healthy options to show the world I have good taste. 

Comment if you do this too!

eat up!

Foodie post #5

Hey again everyone,

As usual i want to talk about food and social media.. my two favorites. I was thinking about all of the insta and snapchat chef celebs I follow, and I was wondering who made this so widespread and cool. I was thinking back to what changed cookbooks, to online recipes, to food videos that crowd my news feed.

The first ones I could remember were the Tasty videos. God, I love those. For those of you who haven't gotten to watch these videos or don't know who they are, you must go check them out. The first time I began to see these was on Facebook. They are quick videos that teach you how to prepare a certain delicious desert or meal. I mean they look so good, they usually make me hungry every time. Here's a link to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/buzzfeedtasty/?fref=ts

In a lot of my classes, I have done extensive research on millennials, and it really makes sense why Tasty has become so popular. Millennials love do it yourself options, with many ingredients that they can assemble. They are also very attracted to videos rather than reading long articles, so they don't have to put too much thought into it. The videos also make the food look more appealing than just your average photo.

To date, Tasty has 81,612,925 likes on their Facebook page. 561 of my friends alone like them. They have also expanded into pintrest, instagram, vine, twitter, and youtube. They are also considering breaking into the food television industry. It's cool how they are breaking into big industries through social media rather than the other way around.

here is their valentines day video for the occasion:

https://www.facebook.com/buzzfeedtasty/


















Thanks, and keep eating!

Claire Sussman

Food Post #3

The power of social media when it comes to food still amazes me.

In my other marketing class, we had to choose a local business to help by consulting with them and coming up with a marketing plan to help them with a specific goal. My group chose Panadería Tacuari bakery. It is an authentic South American bakery located off of Chase st. It has been described as a "hidden gem" of Athens. Hidden is a key word. They have a lot of business from latino families, but have yet to break through to other target markets in Athens, such as the students.

When interviewing the owner, he said they had a very successful week the week a local food instagrammer posted a picture of their food on their Instagram. He said that was the busiest week of college students they have ever had. That amazed me!

It is so crazy how everyone has a voice in marketing now, and often, word of mouth marketing is even more effective!

One of my good friends has a popular food Instagram full of funny captions and delicious looking food from restaurants all around. Honestly, every time I see her posts, I crave the food. Its so crazy how just a picture on a random Instagram account can generate sufficient business if they have a lot of followers.

pictures of Panadería Tacuari's instagram (in case you want to go try them!):



And here are some pics from my friends instagram, @letthebigdawgseat:



(not gonna lie.. i went and got a pizza bagel probably 30 minutes after they posted it)

Foodie Post #2

Hey everyone!

Last week I talked about how chefs have awesome social media where they promote products and show you how to use them in recipes. I have still been obsessing over them and following them. 

For Christmas this year, my mom gave me a cook book called "Whole Bowls" because I have been really into different bowl ideas lately. This book is very on trend, and is vegetarian, gluten free, and SUPER healthy. All of the things our generation appreciates. I have cooked various recipes and am obsessed. I pulled it out to cook a bowl the other day and noticed the authors name. My first thought was immediately to find her on instagram. It's pretty funny how that works. Low and behold, she has a instagram, @yummybeet. I followed her instantly and noticed she has a link to her blog and website. She also promotes her cookbooks in various posts and other peoples products. She brands herself with interesting little instagrams, funny captions, and delicious foods to make you want to buy what she does, cook what she does, and ultimately buy her book! If I didn't already have it, I'd totally buy it! Instagrams create perfect personas to market oneself and ultimately sell products!

Here are some of her posts marketing her book:

(using a cute baby lol)

Here are some of her posts advertising certain brands and stores:

Here are some pics of delicious foods:

'

And for the finale, here is a picture of two of my bowls I made with her recipes:

Xo and eat well,

Claire

Foodie Post #1

A passion I have had throughout my entire life is food. I truly love everything about it; the eating, the experience, etc. Throughout the years, I have learned the importance of healthy food, sometimes the hard way. Since coming to college, I have learned the importance of cooking my own food in terms of being health and financially conscious.

Growing up, my mom always made my food. Even when I became a vegetarian, she kindly whipped me up an alternative meal to my family's meaty dish. I made cookies and pasta every now and then, but had practically no experience with cooking. When I moved into my apartment sophomore year, I was lost. I wanted to eat healthier things than I could cook, but didn't really know where to begin. I followed various blogs and instagrammers that gave me good ideas for meal ideas, which got me started. 

Although my cooking skills have become a lot better, I am always looking to improve. I now follow multiple chefs and foodies on snapchat and instagram where I can view posts and watch the videos of them explaining their products and the steps to make their food perfection. They also even give ideas to make recipes cheaper and healthier. It is like having your own personal coach in your kitchen with you. My favorite instagrammer and blogger right now is shutthekaleup! She is so helpful in explaining why food is good for you and why certain ones taste great together. Its the ultimate cook book update!
On top of sharing her delicious combinations, she promotes many products from whole foods and various health stores. Me and my roommates have began to take suite and buy the same products that she advertises in her various videos and posts. People our age tend to trust these personas who are personally telling us about the product rather than adds we see. We buy more expensive versions of the same product because we want to be like her and  she says they are healthier and taste amazing. It is interesting how stores can connect to these people on social media to help sell their products.

Here are some of the yummy pics of her dishes:

xo and eat well,

Claire