Social Comment or Simple Joy? Food as a Status Symbol

While food insecurity only grows across America, food has increasingly become a status symbol, glamorized by social media culture through fridge restock TikToks or “what I eat in a day” videos, even as food grows less and less accessible for the average shopper.

The High Cost of Eating Healthy: Is Food a Status Symbol? Smth like this

So many of our earliest and greatest memories involve food– the smell of waking up to a good breakfast, or the first time we tried one of our favorite meals. Undeniably, good food is one of life’s greatest joys. It’s a kind of universal language that can connect cultures, families, and traditions, and a lot of the time—a wordless way to express love. Lately, though, it seems to have become more of a social comment than just a simple joy. As food insecurity grows, food has increasingly become a status symbol, glamorized by social media as it grows less and less accessible for the average shopper. 

Food insecurity has recently dominated headlines as the Trump administration threatened to cut off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a system that provides monthly benefits to low-income Americans. This billion dollar initiative feeds 42 million people each year—that’s one in eight Americans who might have been forced to turn to food banks as these benefits were reduced or cut completely. 

And as inflation simultaneously gets higher, it's no wonder that fresh food itself is now a way to display wealth. High-end grocery stores have lately become trends as influencers flock to taste-test their most viral items. Instead of showing off an expensive car or fancy jewelry, right now it seems like the most ‘wealthy’ thing a person can do is try the $20 Hailey Bieber smoothie at Erewhon, a ridiculously expensive grocery store in California.

Social media may mask the economic reality of America, but the prices themselves do not lie. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in July 2025 the price of fresh vegetables rose by nearly 39%. Quality produce can sometimes cost twice as much as fast food or highly-processed meals. 

Moreover, low-income families are often isolated in food deserts, areas where no nearby stores sell healthy food. Even though fast food is a much more affordable solution to food insecurity for many families, it’s still often seen as classless. On the other hand, expensive pastries or ‘clean eating’ foods like produce now hold undertones of privilege, and eating them can in itself be taken as a sign of wealth.

Social media has established the idea that food is about maintaining an aesthetic, making it so that even basic nourishment is a form of self-expression. Many influencers enjoy showing off their balanced meals, gorgeous kitchens, and “organic” choices. However, none of these displays ever acknowledge the fact that for most people in today’s economy, it’s almost impossible to maintain that lifestyle. For viewers who might be struggling to afford food, these videos advertise the illusion that healthy eating is easily accessible, when in reality, it’s not. As a result, healthy eating has become something that can be performed; it’s an act of high status, signaling classiness to a digital audience.

The real question, though, is what can we do with this? After all, for most Hopkins students, food is something that we’re lucky enough to take for granted. Fixing the issue means addressing both sides of the problem, economic and social. For starters, it’s important to keep donating and fundraising as the economy grows harder and harder to survive in. But, cultural change matters too. Influencers can choose to highlight more accessible, budget-friendly goods, and normalize not being able to afford a fancy meal every night. If more people were transparent about their lifestyle, the gap between social media and reality could begin to close. Ultimately, the internet only promotes an illusion of what’s truly affordable for an average consumer, which should be, at the very least, basic nourishment, something that never should have become a luxury in the first place.