Foodgasm

Foodgasm (a term which comes out from the combination of the words "food" and "orgasm") is a neologism that indicates a pleasurable and euphoric feeling of satisfaction that occurs during the consumption of particularly amazing and delicious foods: this pleasure is sometimes accompanied by vocal noises (e.g. moans, sighs, screams of joy and happiness) and a variety of facial expressions.

An appetiting lasagne.

In a linguistic aspect, Jurado (2018) discusses as follows: "the sequence '-gasm' does not reproduce the original meaning of orgasm in different groups of words in the corpus, but a slight variation. This element is used with the meaning of 'a feeling of excitement or enthusiasm', produced by the first element of the blend such as eargasm, infogasm or oreogasm".[1]

History

The term in question is a relatively new one. Upon conducting a Google Trends research[2] to observe how many times the term was searched online on daily basis, the first usage dates back to around 2000s.

One of the primary appearances of the term (online) dates back to 2004, a post of an anonymous user called "Little Monster" on newsgroup alt.support.loneliness[3] which is a public sub-group on Google Groups: "Yesterday I had a foodgasm. I bought some sun-dried tomatoes from the olive seller in Leicester market. Got home, popped one in my mouth... chewed…". As a response to the said post, another user commented as follows: "...Me thinks you are a masochist foodgasmer".

Another example of the term is included in a book titled The Mile-High Hair Club, 2005, Naomi Neale as following: "'Oh my God, I'm having foodgasms here.' Sidney chomped into her pita".[4] The term shows up in another book called Goddess Be the woman you want to be (2006) "Naturally, the smart move would be to serve up a cordon bleu foodgasm but (a) you haven't got the ability and (b) you can't be arsed."

On the other hand, the social media itself has given rise to usage of the term circulated by massive amounts of users online. Users started using (related) hashtags to express their sensory feelings upon experiencing foodgasm.[5]

Pornographic metaphor

In the word foodgasm, the sexual referral is implicit. Seeing food presented in an appetizing and "ready to be eaten" manner allows the brains of the viewer to vividly imagine the consumption experience related to eating what they see. This is what creates the pathway to get an actual foodgasm. Looking at pictures of food is known to trigger gustatory sensations in the brain, and to often trigger the desire to consume.[6]

Differences between Foodporn and Foodgasm

The popular origin of the terms coincides with the proliferation of food television over the course of the 1990s. Editing styles and emotionally-loaded close-up cinematography, for instance, produce much of the sentimentality they seem to reflect.

Foodporn is linked to unctuous foods represented in very attractive ways. On the other hand a foodgasm is more the physical pleasure made in response to eating, represented through images of closed, rolling or fluttering eyes, arched back or head, puckered lips or open inviting mouths.

Foodporn related images are enticing yet deceptive, generating a plentiful spectacle of unsubstantial consumption while Foodgasm is the direct consequence of hyper realized consumption.[7]

An example of "Camera eats first" phenomenon

Consumer culture

Food is considered a consumer material object but it is also a cultural dimension evident in the process of objectification through which people create themselves, their identities, social affiliations, relationships and practices in everyday life.[8] Food is the most common way of consumption in our contemporary society and it can be found in different spheres of the society.

Foodgasm in media sphere

During the "information age" (starting from the late 1950s) thanks to the introduction of the personal computer, the vast amount of information is digitalized and people can transfer them quickly and freely through the "social media". Social media contributes unconsciously in the creation of new words or vocabularies. Most of them are in English and are from two words combined into one new word: for example Netizen (Internet+Citizen), Trentop (Trending+Topic), Delcon (Delete+Contact). The process of mixing two words to form a new word is called "blending". The word "foodgasm" is composed of the whole part of the first splinter (food) and the last syllable of the second splinter (orgasm).[9]

Foodgasm in food advertising

Through the use of new media advertisement, food and culinary industries try to send a message that makes people willing to spread the word about the products considered.[10] The term "foodgasm" is used to spectacularize moments of eating pleasure; indeed it stimulates the nerves, the senses, and the pleasure center of the brain. Television food commercials do not simply rely on the "work of watching" (Jhally and Livant 124), but they mobilize future action by the spectator in the form of consumption (buying and eating). In this way the food orgasm is a channel to the body of the viewer, a commercial practice of sensory transmission in an effort to physically awaken a drive to buy. Foodgasm discourses position food as an opiate for the masses and consumption as a potential source of autonomy.[11] Food advertising can have psychological consequences on consumers and particularly children, who are more susceptible to irresponsible reactions; it can influence people on an emotional level. They may associate food with specific feelings: peace, relax, happiness, satisfaction and this can originate addiction and obesity.[12][13]

Culinary tourism with Japanese typical food

The role of foodgasm in culinary tourism

Food is the most common way of consumption in contemporary society. Nowadays, food has become the centre of lots of contents shared on the net, through the use of different social media by using #foodgasm and #foodporn.

Food representation via social media has created a phenomenon among pop culture that defines the consumption of food and drink related to culinary tourism: culinary and food tourism is a world travel trend because this type of travel offers not only the memory of food but also the rich storytelling traditions of indigenous peoples. This phenomenon is strictly linked to the culture of tourists: they travel to discover new places and cultures, use often these terms to show the varieties of food they taste in their destinations and to share them with other people, in order to make them travel around the world and to make them taste different flavors than they might have otherwise.[14]

See also

• Camera eats first
• Food porn
• Food and sexuality
• Social media
• Pleasure
• Food
• Food blogging
• Food photography
• Culinary tourism

References

1. Jurado, Alejandro Barrena (2018). "A study on the 'wordgasm': the nature of blends' splinters". Lexis (14). doi:10.4000/lexis.3916.
2. "Google Trends".
3. "Foodgasm alt.support.loneliness".
4. Neale, Naomi (2005). Mile-high hair club. Dorchester Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8439-5564-4.
5. Wilson, Elisabeth (2006). Goddess: be the woman you want to be. Infinite Ideas. ISBN 978-1-904902-77-5.
6. Fajardo, José Antonio Sánchez (2018). "Porn". American Speech. 93: 143–150. doi:10.1215/00031283-6904087.
7. "Food Face: eating on the small screen". ProQuest 936848280. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
8. Fonseca, Marcelo (2008). "Understanding Consumer Culture: The Role of "Food" As an Important Cultural Category". In Claudia R. Acevedo; Jose Mauro C. Hernandez; Tina M.Lowrey (eds.). LA-Latin American Advances in Consumer Research. 2. Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research. pp. 28–33.
9. Giyatmi, Giyatmi; Wijayava, Ratih; Arumi, Sihindun (2017). "Blending words found in social media". Jurnal Arbitrer. 4 (2): 65. doi:10.25077/ar.4.2.65-75.2017.
10. "Advertising in the Food Industry".
11. Jameson, Stacy M. (2016). Televisual Senses: the embodied pleasures of food advertising. Wiley Periodicals. ISBN 978-0-691-16113-6.
12. "Advertising in the food industry".
13. Rodriguez, G. (2011). "Childhood obesity: the contribution of diet". Developing Children's Food Products. Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science, Technology and Nutrition. pp. 44–61. doi:10.1533/9780857091130.1.44. ISBN 9781845694319.
14. Ranteallo, Ikma Citra; Andilolo, Imanuella Romaputri (2017). "Food representation and media: experiencing culinary tourism through foodgasm and foodporn". Balancing Development and Sustainability in Tourism Destinations. pp. 117–127. doi:10.1007/978-981-10-1718-6_13. ISBN 978-981-10-1716-2. S2CID 132796975.