Game Meat Grub for the Big Game
Sunflower-Seed Milk Substitute
Low-Fat Fish Dishes
Faux Pas: The Chef Was Texting
Open a Beer with a Piece of Paper
Belgian Brewers Are Copying Us!—THE CHOW 13—
CLICK THUMBNAIL FOR EACH PROFILE
enlarge imageRICHARD BLAKELEY AND JESSICA AMASON
This Is Why You’re Fat
Richard Blakeley was a web video editor at Gawker.com and Jessica Amason an editor for AOL’s culture blog when they launched This Is Why You’re Fat, a crowd-sourced photo blog of some of the most calorific dishes created by modern man. Burgers between doughnuts. Pancake towers with bacon mortar. Twinkies and Cheetos stadiums. A cross between a traffic accident and a supersized, laminated Denny’s menu, This Is Why You’re Fat received 7 million hits in its first month. Within the year, the pair had a book deal. (This Is Why You’re Fat came out October 27.)
The genius of the site, and probably the reason it’s been criticized for being a gratuitous time suck, is its total lack of subtext. Arch name aside, the blog was designed by Blakeley and Amason to be bare bones, with no commentary or information about themselves.
“One person might have taken a photo because they thought it was heinous and totally bad for you, another person might be proud of this creation they made,” says Amason. “We tried to be a one-stop shop for all these items, and not preach to anyone about them.”
The result is a fascinating historical document of modern America’s torturously conflicted relationship with food. We know what makes us fat, but when it comes to fried foods, bacon, melty cheese, dough, frosting, and goo, we are transfixed, done for.
Did you grow up eating the kind of stuff on your blog and in your book?
Richard: “No, I was raised by vegetarian hippies in Marin [County, California].”
Jessica: “I didn’t either. I come from a family of athletes—I was a competitive swimmer—and we were always really aware of nutrition in terms of training.”
How did you translate a user-submitted photo blog into a book?
Jessica: “We have added value with recipes and stories from creators of some of the dishes. I think another exciting thing is a lot of these people have been inspired to write their own cookbooks. They want to share their creations.”
Do you have any favorite contributions?
Richard: “I’m a sucker for the names of the stuff. One of my favorites is Sweet Peeptato Pie, which is multicolored Peeps on top of sweet potatoes.”
Jessica: “I do think the meat creations that are like feats of engineering are particularly nasty. The ship made entirely out of meat, for example.”
Richard: “It sails upon a tuna salad that they food-dyed green, with bacon sails.”
I am so deeply over Slow Food USA. Was cool in 2000, definitely does not merit attention now. 300 picnics is the stuff of revolution? Big time boring, just like Slow Food has been for...um....the past decade? Novella deserves the shout out, awesome.
But, it's the first time you guys are doing this so I am sure it will get better!
I have to disagree-What Sam Calagione is doing for beer has brought the craft beer movement to a whole new level. Just one example is Dogfish Head's ancient ale series, or "liquid time capsules." They recreate and reinterpret ancient brewed beverages based on chemical analysis of pottery shards from archeological finds. You may think that this idea is purely novel, but the ales are intricate,...+READ
I have to disagree-What Sam Calagione is doing for beer has brought the craft beer movement to a whole new level. Just one example is Dogfish Head's ancient ale series, or "liquid time capsules." They recreate and reinterpret ancient brewed beverages based on chemical analysis of pottery shards from archeological finds. You may think that this idea is purely novel, but the ales are intricate, unconventional, and most of all delicious! Beer is the new wine, and Sam Calagione proves it.-COLLAPSE
@davina-thank you pointing me in the right direction and highlighting each illustrator in the comments box. They all rock!
HillJ -- we love our illustrators, there are four of them and we're so proud of the work that they did. They are Nathan Fox, Yuko Shimizu, Frank Stockton, and Eamo. Their credit lines are underneath each image.
Props to the "head shot" illustrator. They too deserve credit....heck, why not credit them!
Just because people have been doing coffee bars since 1988 doesn't mean they've been doing them right.
::cough::Starbucks::cough::
And no, people weren't doing anything close to what Caligione, Cilurzo, Arthur, Allagash, et al are doing now 20+ years ago. Wait a sec, how many of those guys from back then are still at it? Surprisingly few.
By your reasoning, no one should get...+READ
Just because people have been doing coffee bars since 1988 doesn't mean they've been doing them right.
::cough::Starbucks::cough::
And no, people weren't doing anything close to what Caligione, Cilurzo, Arthur, Allagash, et al are doing now 20+ years ago. Wait a sec, how many of those guys from back then are still at it? Surprisingly few.
By your reasoning, no one should get superlatives for any of this slow food, locavorism nonsense because really, no one's done anything new with that, oh, since the beginning of human civilization.-COLLAPSE
Great job on 10 of 13 picks. But picking Deb Madison in Chow 2009 is like giving Scorcese that Oscar a couple years back...the timing is wrong, just give the Lifetime Achievement Award instead. And really guys, you've picked a beer guy and a gourmet coffee guy...in 2009? NOTHING has really changed/no innovation in coffee or beer since 1988...just a few new personalities who hit the market more...+READ
Great job on 10 of 13 picks. But picking Deb Madison in Chow 2009 is like giving Scorcese that Oscar a couple years back...the timing is wrong, just give the Lifetime Achievement Award instead. And really guys, you've picked a beer guy and a gourmet coffee guy...in 2009? NOTHING has really changed/no innovation in coffee or beer since 1988...just a few new personalities who hit the market more right, that's all.-COLLAPSE
I'm not getting this pick. Micro beer is 25 years old, and the 'special ingredients' story is way overdone. This guy is just slightly more interesting and his beers are just slightly better.