Food porn

Lawrence Toppman:

What I think we really need is a fantasy blog about weight loss, a vicarious pleasure for people who dream of eating coma-inducing amounts of sugar and fat but dare not do so, especially if they're trying to lose weight.

It would have pictures of multi-layered cakes, pies with fruit spilling over a sugared crust, cookies the size of the wheels on a 2006 Toyota Prius. Nothing healthy, nothing in moderation, nothing whose ingestion would result in longevity or improve fitness.

It would also have photos of guys with six-pack abs and lissome women, to accompany essays about indulging in gluttony every day. (This would fulfill the average person's fantasy that we can gobble anything we want without consequences.) No hymns to the glory of asparagus or the benefits of broccoli, just paeans to pork rinds.

Maybe a technocrat could figure out a way to release the scent of the desired objects as soon as we clicked on photos of them. I predict well-earned riches for anyone who makes such a breakthrough, and I'll be the first to subscribe to his pay site.