How Food Media Talk About Health and Wellness Matters
Why does it often feel so fraught and judgy?
This was first posted as the October 5 “From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy” newsletter. You can sign up here.
The first time I saw the word “fat” used as a descriptor without a whiff of judgment was when the show Two Fat Ladies was playing on Food Network. It was a BBC show from the late ’90s, and the cartoon of them driving around in a motorcycle with a sidecar is burned in my brain. These were two broads who knew how to live, the introduction implied, and Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright did indeed do some living.
Their knowing, confident banter around travel and ingredients suggested extensive experience in the world; they would never use yogurt where cream would do. There is just so much humor and pleasure demonstrated on this show. It was and is absolutely delightful.
Eating has always been central to my happiness. My grandma fed me lobster and lamb chops, goes the story I’ve told or typed a million times; we watched Julia Child and The Frugal Gourmet. Food was my first love, and it’s my most sustaining love — literally, emotionally, intellectually. When I was a kid, my appetite was considered impressive. And because I’ve remained more or less thin throughout my life, it has never (or…
