I don’t know how many of you have run across the site This Is Why You’re Fat in your travels around the internet, but I was mercifully unaware until this morning.
To save you the trouble of looking, it’s just picture after picture of extreme high-calorie foods, many dripping in grease. Some of these pictures do have a certain hypnotic quality to them in terms of ‘really? someone put those things together?’. Birthday Spam and Sushi, I’m looking at you.
The thing is, I’ve seen some of these foods before, though not many (and I admit I would totally try the Potato Tornado, which is a spiral cut potato deep fried on a skewer dusted with ‘tangy cheese powder’), and I’ve never actually eaten one of them. Nope, not the Krispy Kreme cheeseburger, not the six-layer chocolate ice cream cake ‘frosted’ in whipped cream and doused in caramel sauce, not the funnel cake the size of Kalamazoo… not one of them. Definitely not the Turbaconduckenriblets. That’s just… oh dear.
Most of the time I eat a pretty balanced diet, rich in fresh vegetables, lean meats, and whole grains. Why? Because that’s what I enjoy eating. I was the kid who always requested spinach and fish on her birthday as a kid. If I’m going to go for a dessert, I usually want it not to be oversweet, and I want a nice texture. I’m not above junk food, but it’s not an everyday thing for me, and I still have my foodie standards. I will willingly go without rather than eat something that makes me slightly queasy when I look at it.
In fact, pretty much the only person I know who would eat more than two things on that site on a dare happens to be very thin. I’m certainly not saying that nobody who is fat would eat any of those things (Oh, Potato Tornado, I must resist your siren song until I find a source!). I’m just saying that fat isn’t all about food.
There’s genetics, activity level, medications and/or illnesses, history of dieting, and a dozen other factors.
So no, that’s not why I’m fat. It’s not the only reason anyone is fat.
I’ve known about that site for a while, in fact I visit it almost daily to see what new horror someone has cooked up. To be honest, I’ve never really been offended at the title of it.
Comment by Cambiata — August 8, 2010 @ 1:54 pm
I think you took the title a bit too literally, Twistie. That site’s a forum for posting nasty-looking, unbelievable food combinations. The title is tongue in cheek.
Comment by Mary — August 8, 2010 @ 10:44 pm
I can take the humor in the title. It just strikes me as tongue in cheek hyperbole. And even if it makes me a “bad fat,” I could get down with a Soul Roll.
Comment by Abbe — August 8, 2010 @ 11:46 pm
No, that is definitely not why I am fat. I eat healthy, and increasingly organic, in reasonable portion sizes, I exercise daily and I’m still a size 16. No junk food, hardly any fast food and sweet desserts are a rarity. The only people I know who’d eat most of those are kids and teenagers. Let’s blame it on something else.
Comment by Retna — August 8, 2010 @ 11:58 pm
Potato chips on a stick and the KrispyKreme cheeseburger are at the Wisconsin State Fair. Runs through August 15th, so come on down! We have 65 kinds of food onna stick including cherry pie, mac&cheese, Reubens, Irish Stew and the more traditional corn dogs and deepfried dill pickles. You can even get deepfried Oreo cookies on a stick. (The crab cakes onna stick are especially yummy!)
Apparently the KrispyKreme burger is a big seller and 40% of the ones sold also get chocolate covered bacon on top for $1 more.
Comment by Carol — August 9, 2010 @ 7:42 am
Well, if you’d seen a picture of the guy who runs the site or the pictures of what he typically eats, you know that’s why HE is fat. I’ve seen him and I’m not joking.
Comment by raincoaster — August 9, 2010 @ 9:31 am
Frankly, I don’t care why anyone is fat or thin. I don’t care whether you’re fat and eat a “perfect” diet, and I don’t care whether you’re fat and eat only fried foods dusted in powdered sugar. It’s simply not a moral issue.
Comment by Chiken — August 9, 2010 @ 10:37 am
“Chiken Says: Frankly, I don’t care why anyone is fat or thin. I don’t care whether you’re fat and eat a “perfect” diet, and I don’t care whether you’re fat and eat only fried foods dusted in powdered sugar. It’s simply not a moral issue.”
Madame Suggia says, Chiken is fabulous.
Comment by Madame Suggia — August 9, 2010 @ 12:06 pm
The Potato Tornado looks incredibly delicious… and so do the S’mores cupcakes. I don’t think I could even choke down anything else on the site… too many warring flavors crammed into single dishes.
In my minds eye, I see rail-thin fraternity boys creating and consuming most of these mockeries of gastronomy. No self-respecting fat person would be seen in the vicinity of such tripe. *haughty sniff*
Comment by Katsu — August 9, 2010 @ 12:34 pm
I like Chiken’s attitude. Let’s not let others define the rules of the battle.
Comment by GoP — August 9, 2010 @ 5:03 pm
I thought the same thing Katsu, It’s a man thing like eating one of those 5 pound steaks or gigantic burgers.
Comment by Constance — August 9, 2010 @ 7:08 pm
Boy, this can be some high-class internet site
Comment by key west motels — August 9, 2010 @ 10:03 pm
Carol, you forgot about the cream puffs! That’s what I want. (Although the chocolate-covered bacon on a stick is not bad.)
Comment by The gold digger — August 10, 2010 @ 3:08 pm
@The gold digger – yeah, I’m not fond of the cream puffs. Mr. Carol has a chocolate eclair every year, though, and those are pretty good. It’s certainly enough to share! My younger son tells me he tried the KK burger and it was very good.
Comment by Carol — August 11, 2010 @ 7:56 am
For me the title frustrates because even if the INTENT was to be “tongue in cheek” folks are not VIEWING it as such; instead snorting and shaking their heads at the antics of those “poor, deluded, fatties” who must snort The Great Wall Of Chocolate every day. I had a discussion with a woman at work who originally pointed me to the site about why I found it a bit offensive and suggested “Well, why not call it “Food Monstrosities” or “Would you eat this?” No. They went with the “This is why you’re fat” because it is an easily understood meme. But whatever.
I agree that Chiken above is fabulous. Let’s not put moral meaning on amoral acts such as eating!!
Also? “Pake” is now something I need to see in the real. A pie INSIDE a cake??!?
Comment by April D — August 12, 2010 @ 12:24 pm
This is one of my friend’s favorite sites, and I can guarantee you it’s not because he’s shaming “fatties.” He used to eat the most unhealthy frozen dinners and has a fascination with these high-calorie meals…I think it’s a dude thing…at any rate, the site went down for a while and I googled it out of curiosity, turned out the creator was facing criminal charges for being abusive to his wife! I was waiting for a “this is why you’re in jail” response site to pop up…
Comment by JK — August 13, 2010 @ 9:08 pm