How We Talk About Being Fat

It matters

More than any other time of year, the holiday season is the one we most closely associate with gluttony. As if it’s an uncontrollable reflex, food media writes about overeating, loosening our belts, feasting hard all the way through New Year’s Eve, feeling guilt, then fasting or dieting or buckling down once our January 1 resolutions come due. 

I think it’s useful from time to time to take a look at the way we talk about these things, which is why I wanted to highlight the two Heated stories below. One is from Kevin Pang, a food writer who had to quit his job because his “relationship with food was spiraling out of control.” The second is from Alicia Kennedy, who writes about weight, appetite, eating disorders, how women bear the brunt of fatphobia, and how the way that food media discusses these issues is fundamentally broken. Where Kevin confronts his own relationship with eating and his weight, Alicia confronts the entire premise of how we talk about eating and weight (including citing Kevin’s story for having a dangerous message).

These are really good and interesting articles, especially when you read them in tandem. I hope you’ll give them a look; there’ll be plenty of time for gluttony later. 

—Mark