Half And Half - Baked oat industrial complex

A slight deviation from topic this week, as sponsored by the algorithm.

I'm not sure how down the rabbit hole your Instagram algorithm is, but for the last month or so my FYP page has been filled with baked oatmeal, (and birria tacos but that's another thing). The recipes for the oats are fairly similar - oats, milk, some fruit or something sweet all blended and baked and decorated into a part smoothie bowl part cake. I've seen "donut" baked oats, school cake baked oats, and a variety of chocolate bar themed baked. Every bowl is styled and presented in a distinctly "feminine" way, as if the creators were reaching through the screen and grabbing the cheeks of every woman who scrolled past.

And I hate them. And I've been trying to piece together why when I see them I feel so enraged.

Concurrently on my TikTok, there's been a reevaluation of the 2010s' online food fads. One video I watched said that if you remember bloggers who ate 8 bananas a day, made them into "nice" cream or called food "slutty", then welcome to a shared trauma. I'm also going to put a bunch below on this topic that just made me laugh because explaining TikToks also makes me feel old.

@flynn.qua
I’ll have a vodka pls, it’s lower in calories
♬ Hope (feat. Faith Evans) - Twista

@meglynch108
comment other diet culture foods for me to roast #greenscreen #antidiet #haes #edrecovery #bodyneutral #bodyimage #mentalhealth
♬ original sound - meglynch108

Then there's also been the well-deserved rise of the Maintenance Phase podcast, which breaks down wellness myths like Weight Watchers and slimming pills, and which I've been listening to for several months now. There's a link below, but I'd encourage all to seek it out.

With all of this mashed together in my brain, and with little else to occupy time right now, I think I am so enraged at baked oats because it looks like another arm of diet culture emerging from the goo.

To be clear with my feelings; there is nothing wrong with eating blended baked oats, or blended frozen bananas, or quite frankly trying most (most) recipes that burst and briefly shine online in the space of 'healthy' foods. The *problem* is these recipes are so often positioned as good Vs bad. Craving a pastry? Bad, eat just bowl of peanut butter instead. Wanting a brownie? That's *naughty* and therefore we're going to call these brownies naughty so and talk about them like we're trying to sell their pants online (I have a whole other issue with how a certain breed of posh cook write food descriptions like their boing bread, but that's another thing).

It worries me that the algorithm knows I like cooking and is immediately suggesting 'diet' alternatives for the food I like and save. It worries me that so many blogs and chefs with a huge following will, without much thought, whip up a bowl of blended oats and encourage followers to eat it when they have a sweet craving. I have, luckily, had absolutely no internal motivation to want to eat smoothie porridge, but I am also someone with ongoing anxiety around food and know how easy it is to start parroting the descriptions under recipes when your brain is worried about what is in your stomach.

I am old in online years and have been through *several* cycles of this culture already. I was barely 20 when I sat with a friend in an eating disorder recovering clinic as she cried while trying to eat yoghurt because bloggers online had convinced her that dairy would ruin her body. I have stared into the heart of the food discourse tardis and I have eaten brownies made from avocado and tbh they suck.

Yes, it's just oats. Yes, it's just content. And yes people can have liked and preferences and reasons to leave things out of their diets! But why do you think accounts that are fronted by primarily thin people share the recipes that they do? It is aspirational and communicating a lifestyle of constant dieting.

This isn't "you should eat cake whenever you like" because, that's dumb advice, it doesn't work for a lot of food anxieties, and tbh that would ruin the joy of cake. This is, maybe rethink how we present and package food.

And hey, if you really want to take this to an extreme, read the multiple reports on how wellness is radicalising women into conspiracy theorists.

I'm going to put a list below who, I feel, do a good job debunking food myths, or just have a good perspective on bodies. I'm always up for reading and hearing about more. I'll also put a recipe for the kind of baked oats I like.

Maintenance Phase Podcast
@lukehannanutrition
Get Ready For Blob Girl Summer

My preferred recipe for baked oats - Nordic Bakery inspired Berry Oat cake.
Another breakfast bake recipe I've heard is great - Breakfast Cake in Carbs

Half And Half - Baked oat industrial complex

Older messages

Cooking prompts for when all you want to eat are mini cheddars

Recipes for my friends: lamb for Carl, and JP's easy lemon tart

Instagram mums saved my cooking this year

Fried Rice Fan Account

My dream is finally getting cancelled by Italian food Twitter

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