As Christmas approaches, food firms are wheeling out ridiculous symbols of excess. It’s not a bit of fun – it’s conspicuous consumption gone mad
There is no more deathly phrase in the world of food than “it’s just a bit of fun”. Something being just a bit of fun is what leads from the gateway drug of a steak served on a slate so that cutting up your dinner sounds like fingernails being dragged down a blackboard, to a full English breakfast served in a dog food bowl, to a spare rib selection presented in a mini galvanised dustbin.
Just a bit of fun is the excuse for a record-breaking hamburger weighing more than a tonne which no one wants to eat; for a $169 hot dog topped with caviar and truffles which sounds disgusting; for a £130 wagyu sandwich, which really isn’t all that. It’s not fun. It’s seriously bloody annoying. What’s more it may well be a harbinger for the end of everything we hold dear. And as Christmas 2019 approaches, the volume of this nightmarish stuff is only increasing.
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