National Junk Food Day: Fast Food and Junk Food Are Not the Same Thing

Last Tuesday was National Junk Food Day, which got me thinking about something I see confused all the time.

Fast food and junk food are often talked about as if they are the same thing. They are not. Some fast food can certainly be junk food, but being fast food is not what makes it junk food. And much of what we call junk food is not fast food at all.

So what does junk food look like?

Potato chips, cheese puffs, candy, cookies, brownies, cupcakes, doughnuts, pretzels, snack cakes and all those other things we eat mostly because we like them. Lots of sugar, salt and fat, not much nutritional ambition, and very easy to keep eating long after you intended to stop.

That is what got me thinking about what a photograph of actual junk food should look like. Not just one bag of chips or a plate of cookies. I wanted all of it. A ridiculous abundance of junk food presented as though it deserved its own buffet.

So I created it with AI. Platters, bowls and cake stands piled with just about every kind of junk food I could think of, all together on one table.

Apparently, if you put enough junk food on serving platters and cake stands, it becomes a formal occasion.

You can see more of my photography, projects, motion, and my Blog on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com

Thank You!