Posing with "the People". The Far Right and Food Populism on Instagram

Garcia-Santamaria, Sara . Posing with "the People". The Far Right and Food Populism on Instagram., 2022 In: Food Instagram. Identity, Influence, and Negotiation. University of Illinois Press, pp. 221-240. [Book chapter]

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English abstract

As social media become key communication platforms connecting political leaders and their audiences, populist leaders have been experimenting with the use of everyday cultural tropes that spark emotional connection with their followers. Flipping through their Instagram posts, one such trope stands out for its familiarity: food. In fact, food has started a few battles on social media. In Italy for instance, Matteo Salvini, former deputy prime minister, sparked a “Nutella battle” in late 2019. A self-declared fan of the chocolate nut spread, Salvini announced that he would stop eating it because it contained foreign hazelnuts—not just Italian—only to pose with a Nutella jar on Instagram the next day.1 Similarly, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has sparked a “poop war,” asking climate change defenders to protest less and eat less, so they poop every other day and reduce waste. These examples represent the use of food as a political tool for defending both nationalist and class-based values: national production and restraint. But they also indicate the problematic nature of using food as part of populist friend-and-foe narratives. This chapter explores a set of questions related to political communication in the digital era: How do far-right populist leaders use Instagram food posts as a way of bypassing elite and expert mediations between the leader and “the people”? How do far-right populist leaders respond to (and even instrumentalize) Instagram foodie trends? These questions are relevant for understanding how food becomes a cultural trope taken up within populist performances of class and national identity.

Item type: Book chapter
Keywords: Food Culture Wars Far right Populism Brazil Jair Bolsonaro Matteo Salvini Instagram Italy Performance Authenticty
Subjects: B. Information use and sociology of information > BJ. Communication
H. Information sources, supports, channels. > HA. Periodicals, Newspapers.
H. Information sources, supports, channels. > HT. Web 2.0, Social networks
L. Information technology and library technology > LC. Internet, including WWW.
Depositing user: Dr Sara García Santamaría
Date deposited: 04 Feb 2025 16:53
Last modified: 04 Feb 2025 16:53
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/46375

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