It was love at first sight.

I was too young when I was first exposed to porn. The star: Bridget from “America’s Test Kitchen” The objection of affection: a creamy raspberry sorbet, made from scratch.

It was absolutely titillating.

Natalia Spritzer / Daily Nexus

According to some sources, the term “food porn” was coined as early as the 1980s, but it wasn’t until 2005 that it entered the colloquial lexicon. As for its meaning, food porn is for the most part, self-explanatory. Per Urban Dictionary: “Mouthwatering images of delicious foods,” one user notes. It’s the cheese stretch, the first slice into cherry pie or the drizzle of cookie batter. “[Food porn] is usually encountered late at night, like regular porn,” another contributor added, only that food pornography is far more accessible, populating Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other avenues of social media.

I, for one, have noticed food porn’s growing ubiquity in the past decade. To say the least, the niche for food porn is prominent in the digital age (Buzzfeed Tasty‘s 95 million Facebook followers can attest to this).

I’m not sure where this desire in me to look at food came from, but as for now the scientific consensus is that the affliction is mainly biological in nature. As the journal Brain and Cognition notes, food porn is a form of “digital satiation.” As a species hardwired to chase after sources of fats and sugars, images of food can act as a “super-stimulus,” priming our brains for the sensation of food even when it physically isn’t there.

It makes sense then why our tastes in food porn are wildly decadent in nature. By no coincidence, the most popular food porn content isn’t tupperware lunch, it’s the saccharine, fried, frosted foods that truly elicit a response amongst viewers.

Studies also show that the preoccupation with these kinds of foods, even if it is through a digital medium, isn’t entirely harmless either. Heavy food porn consumption is correlated to a higher BMI as well as a higher risk of heart disease and obesity, most likely because the pleasure gained from viewing unhealthy foods is an encouragement to actually eat them. As the saying goes, monkey see, monkey do.

Some experts go so far to suggest that actively pursuing food porn at all is inherently dysfunctional behavior. “We take pictures of things that are important to us,” psychiatrist Valerie Taylor said. After a certain point, the preoccupation with food is questionable: Taylor mentioned that oftentimes those who find themselves the engrossed by food porn are the ones who struggle most in their relationship with food. “For some people the food itself becomes central and the rest — the venue, the company, et cetera — is background,” she said.

“I see clients for whom food has become problematic, and they struggle to go out and not have food be the key element of all social interaction: what they eat, when they eat, when they are going to eat again,” Taylor said.

For those like me, a veteran food porn user, Taylor’s testimonials beg an uncomfortable series of questions. How many times have I delayed something I need to do, occupied with an episode of“The Great British bake Off?” For me, is food a source of fuel or a source of escapism?

If it’s the latter, is it truly as innocent as it appears?

I’ll rethink my subscription to The Food Network if you’ll do the same.

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