Photo: Tara Rushmer
Food influencing has morphed from flat-lay latte shots into something extreme: the relentless promotion of “must-try” items that offer little in the way of taste or soul. Influencers travel in packs, battling it out for primo Instagram Explore placement: health-conscious content creators who contort desserts into no-bake, gluten-free, sugar-free monstrosities; oddly sinister Disney adults who rate novelty doughnut sandwiches; maximalist “bucket listers” who create stress-inducing milkshake bucket lists and never actually eat the gut-busting food they post. To today’s food Instagrammers, food is a prop much of it haphazardly stitched together in a Frankenstein-esque array of sushi burritos and peanut butter cheeseburgers. And it’s terrible. It’s all terrible.