Abstract
Digital platforms such as TikTok are spaces where cultural trends are created and shared with audiences worldwide. Applying the critiques and theories that Jean Baudrillard presented in his work Simulation, trends such as baked feta pasta can be viewed as simulacra. The newly created dish can be viewed as an attempt to insert itself as a historical Italian culinary product. These dishes are created solely for digital audiences and potential sponsorships, engaging with capitalistic systems through multiple simulations at once. These dishes gain popularity and acceptance because they are dispersed within multiple simulations at once. Using the case study of baked feta pasta trend as a focal point, we will argue that these trends are part of the digital-colonial system that creates, defines, and positions newly created cultural products as part of historical and traditional legacies; in this case, Italian and Mediterranean cultural products. This study discusses and breaks down how TikTok’s baked feta pasta has on audiences’ understanding of cultural products and how these trends, which are, in fact, simulacra attempt to become cemented in the cultural identity of the culture it questions. This paper combines traditional cultural and food studies approaches and theoretical arguments with the introduction of newer ones to offer additional insights into how digital technologies are expanding the realm of cultural discourses. In turn, we consider how these newer digital technologies, structures, and spaces may be mobilised to encourage forms of digital food de-colonisation.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
DIGITAL FOOD SPACES, NEW MEDIA PLATFORMS, DIGITAL COLONIALISM, FOOD STUDIES
