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{1} Welcome to the first ever @asfs_org / @afhvs_org Twitter Conference! I’m delighted to share a bit about my new book—Diners, Dudes & Diets: How Gender & Power Collide in Food Media & Culture—out this November from @uncpressblog. #foodstudies20
{2} First, let’s define “dude.” While social definitions of masculinity require that “a real man” works, competes, triumphs & provides, the dude abides—a phrase turned mantra made famous by Joel & Ethan Coen’s 1998 film The Big Lebowksi. #foodstudies20
{3} The dude is a popular culture figure—but also functions as a complicated and highly ambivalent gender discourse: #foodstudies20
{4} Although never a dominant gender discourse, the dude emerged with the social upheaval of the new millennium, which destabilized white masculinity. He expanded under the conditions of the Great Recession, called the “He-cession” & “Mancession” by some. #foodstudies20
{5} But how does the dude relate to food, you might ask? The food, media, and marketing industries manipulated the dude in order to sell “feminized” food and figures, starting in the mid-2000s and even more so after 2008. #foodstudies20
{6} These industries used the dude to craft cool, uninvested, and "safe" pathways into feminized food media and culture. They also built their strategies upon the gendered precedents set by a specific food genre: dude food. #foodstudies20
{7} Not coincidentally, dude food’s rise mirrors the dude’s historical specificity, as depicted by Google Books Ngram Viewer: #foodstudies20
{8} But what is dude food? To define it, I examined #dudefood on Instagram, dude food content on blogs, and food writing and reporting. #foodstudies20
{9} Sure, dude food is meat (literally and as a gendered symbol) but it’s more than that with its full-throttle flavor, massive portions, unfussy and anti-elitist presentation, nutritional risk-taking, and enthusiastic excess. #foodstudies20
{10} I define dude food as comfort food with an edge of competitive destruction for how it indexes the politics of class, gender, sexuality, and race. It’s much more than just what’s on the plate. #foodstudies20
{11} Dude food embodies the confidence, fearless freedom & privilege of the dude to eat, do & be whatever he wants, plus the anxieties, risks & consequences that come with eating & living like a dude, e.g. “health,” waste & contributing to inequities. #foodstudies20
{12} Nevertheless, brands deployed the dude in food advertising, selling products like Velveeta Shells & Cheese, KFC, P3 protein snacks (i.e. masculinized Lunchables), and Devour frozen meals. But I’m interested in branding that is a step more complicated… #foodstudies20
{13} “Gender contamination” is how marketers address “consumer resistance to brand gender-bending.” In this way, it can be empowering for women to adopt a “masculine” brand, but disempowering for men to adopt “feminine” brands, which affected food & food media. #foodstudies20
{14} As I alluded to earlier, DINERS, DUDES & DIETS tells the story of how the food, media & marketing industries manipulated the dude to thwart gender contamination in order to sell “feminized” food & figures. #foodstudies20
{15} Each DINERS, DUDES & DIETS chapter addresses how marketers tackled increasing gender contamination challenges in:
- cookbooks
- food TV (with Guy Fieri)
- diet soda & yogurts
- diet programs
—all targeted to men in the wake of a 21st C masculinity crisis. #foodstudies20
- cookbooks
- food TV (with Guy Fieri)
- diet soda & yogurts
- diet programs
—all targeted to men in the wake of a 21st C masculinity crisis. #foodstudies20
{16} DINERS, DUDES & DIETS explores gender anxiety to show how food marketing & advertising can do better—and why it matters. Brands can reflect, repeat & reinforce definitions of identity that are conventional or even regressive, which I document in spades. #foodstudies20
{17} Advertising can also play a part in the cultural process of resignification, of opening up possibilities. Brands can move beyond representation alone to access to producers & production, seats at the table, positions of power & decision-making with equal pay. #foodstudies20
{18} The gendered world of food production & consumption has influenced the way we eat, and food itself is central to the contest over our identities. Understanding these processes of power just might help all of us to find more joy and justice in our media lives. #foodstudies20
{19} Thank you for learning a bit about DINERS, DUDES & DIETS! I’m happy to answer any questions. #foodstudies20
{20} DINERS, DUDES & DIETS is currently available for preorder from @uncpressblog & 40% off with code 01DAH40. #foodstudies20 https://uncpress.org/book/9781469660745/diners-dudes-and-diets/
{21} *AND* for all preorders before 11/1, my fab student Val Hinkle designed these amazing thank you postcards. To redeem, email your proof of purchase + preferred name and mailing address to dinersdudesdiets [at] gmail [dot] com. #foodstudies20
![{21} *AND* for all preorders before 11/1, my fab student Val Hinkle designed these amazing thank you postcards. To redeem, email your proof of purchase + preferred name and mailing address to dinersdudesdiets [at] gmail [dot] com. #foodstudies20](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EdnSkHtWoAA8tPH.png "{21} *AND* for all preorders before 11/1, my fab student Val Hinkle designed these amazing thank you postcards. To redeem, email your proof of purchase + preferred name and mailing address to dinersdudesdiets [at] gmail [dot] com. #foodstudies20")
{22} I also hope you’ll check out all the fab #foodstudies #foodhistory books in the #foodstudies20 virtual book exhibit! {end} https://www.pinterest.com/emilycontois/asfs-2020-virtual-book-exhibit/
