
The Hater: A Bank Holiday Reading List
Because nothing says 'Bank Holiday' more than getting annoyed online
Good morning and welcome to Vittles! As it’s a bank holiday in the UK, we’re taking a day off from publishing new content. Instead, to keep you occupied, we’ve compiled a reading list of some of our favourite archive pieces from ‘The Hater’, our column purely dedicated to the art of hating. For the next few days, last year’s essays will be available to read for free: from Ruby Tandoh on The TV Food Man and Sheena Patel on Rich People Peasantcore, to Tom Usher on the phenomenon of Norman’s-hatred and at least two articles on why Americans are annoying about food. The column will return next Monday with Simran Hans on a certain food podcast we’ve all been listening to.
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The Hater: A Bank Holiday Reading List
10 pieces from ‘The Hater’ unpaywalled for the Summer Bank Holiday
‘The TV Food Man’ by Ruby Tandoh
A biography of the TV Food Man, by a person who hates him
It is hard to describe TV Food Man’s approach to cooking by reference to anything in the food itself; this is not a style of cooking, because that would mean looking at some facet of the cooking or the culinary heritage, when what is really important in all of this is him. A lasagne is rolled-up shirt sleeves, a look to camera, a summary clapping of hands, tea towel thrown over a shoulder, shouting over the noise of the food processor, Right!, striding without purpose, bish bash bosh, a white nose now pink with sunburn, throwing utensils into the air and catching them again, flirting with a woman who is trying to pipe meringue, Just go and ask your local butcher, chopping very quickly, talking loudly at people who are trying to explain how corn is grown, jeans that are either too large or very much too small, throwing things into saucepans from a height, The Thai are a beautiful people, pretending never to have heard of tinned salmon, big hands doing things badly but with absolute confidence.
‘Rich People Peasantcore’ by Sheena Patel
Why has austerity become the new rich person aesthetic?
‘Everybody Hates Norman’s’ by Tom Usher
Is Norman’s really the front line of gentrification, or just an innocent cafe we love to hate?
‘Why I Hate Americans Talking About Tacos in London’ by Chloe-Rose Crabtree
Americans thinking everywhere should be like America, part 1
‘The Biweekly British vs American Food Debate’ by Niloufar Hadari
Americans thinking everywhere should be like America, part 2
‘Gut Feelings’ by James Greig
The anxiety of gut health apps, ZOE, and the culture of perpetual debunking.
‘Ultra-Processed Foods’ by Laura Thomas
The unhelpful binarisation of food
UPFs are the latest supervillain of the nutrition world. They have been linked to cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, adolescent asthma and wheezing, frailty, and increased risk of premature death. What’s more, they’re ubiquitous in our food supply, making up around 56.8% of the UK diet, while as recently as last week, The Guardian asked ‘why are 1 in 7 of us addicted to ultra processed foods?. As a nutritionist whose MO is to help people feel less afraid of food, I’ve seen the ways UPF discourse has heightened our fear and anxiety over the fundamental act of nourishing ourselves. What seems like a new frontier in nutritional sciences is really just a variation on the theme of dichotomising foods into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ and reinforcing arbitrary binaries.
‘The SEO-ification of Food’ by Mina Miller
How the apps increasingly shape the way we eat
‘Against Curation’ by Jonathan Nunn
The tyranny of the median customer
‘London Restaurants’ by Various
What is wrong with the London restaurant scene, and how can we fix it?
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