Examining the Accidental Hedonist.

The Accidental Hedonist by Kate Hopkins

Format

The page is simplistic. White background. Black text. Ads and hyper-links cover the margins, which is quite distracting. Pictures are not posted with every written post, but Hopkins has a reoccurring "Food Porn" column that more than makes up for it. Articles can run from 500 to 2000 words.

Content

the articles fall under two different types. The writer either write upon her own experiences with food and dining, or analyzes/critiques found flawed food writing.

The food and dining articles may or may not be about the food being eaten. While there are a few actual food reviews to be found on AccidentalHedonist, her descriptions and stories associated with dining have fascinating interpretations of her surroundings. In the following snippet, she describes her experience at a diner:

These types of places just work. Many of the diners I have visited in my travels have a pulse about them, one that indicates some sort of progression. Whether that progression is a metaphor for life, or for working-American culture, I am not sure, though a case could be made for either. What I do know is that in these places, no one cares of your successes or failures. Pretense isn't just frowned upon at places like these, it's outright unknown. And rare is the diner that appreciates irony. Diners have cooks, not chefs, and waitresses, not servers.

The only mention of the Chicken Fried Steak she ate is when it was ordered and the picture opening the post.

The analysis articles included entries challenging a Slate.com piece bashing pie and another where a prominent food blog stated the best way to be a good food blogger was to "be a man." The writer uses the blog to challenge ideas and speak about food in a more metaphysical way. There is little concern for taste, instead attempting to understand sociological implications of dining, cooking and gender roles. In another post examining the genesis of the housewife, she writes a history lesson and speaks about the social and monetary necessity.

Intention & Tone

Hopkins does not sugarcoat her blog. She writes upon revelation or reviling, motivated upon new ideas on dining or the misconceptions and misconceptions in the food world. As such, there are articles where she writes on a professional level open her own experiences. They have a self-contained narrative and a tone that fluctuates between joking and ideas, her senses and surroundings usually driving the story. Her theory and argument articles have humor, but it becomes accusatory towards her object of scrutiny, becoming barbed. Words and sentence structure are at an 8th grade to Freshman level, with winding sentences and moderate use of underused words. Prosaic, comes to mind. Still, she is able to flip between very casual to straining sentences within a paragraph in order to introduce and define her points.

Theory

In her older posts, Hopkins addresses the fast food restaurants' change into food factories, the worker's rights at candy factories, and  Coca-Cola's response to obesity. She takes a social justice stance in her posts, arguing that a lot of the health problems of working class families come from the food that is most affordable to them, or whichever saves them the most money. This is entirely in line with Pierre Bourdieu's theory of the class restrictions and food.