Maddie has a relationship with food that’s at times beautiful, but often quite sad. How does that map onto you?
Cooking for people is a way to take care of them. It’s a way to share some part of yourself. It’s also a way to control people. That’s in a lot of the stuff that I make because I’ve been making stuff about food and dinner parties and hosting—for whatever reason—for so many years.
You know when you’re at a dinner, you’re like, why am I being held hostage? When I host dinner parties, I’m watching everyone take every bite, you know? I’m like “Oh, just try it with the aioli I made,” you know? I’m never relaxing.
I have my own relationship to food in LA and restaurant culture. Particularly now with this strange, excessive moment in food content. That came out in the movie.
You’re talking about how influencer food videos have a specific vibe?
Suddenly, my Instagram algorithm became this strange mix of food and perverse sexual content. My grid is, like, Turkish men getting their pecs greased up with oil, and then the other half is beautiful girls in Los Angeles emulsifying pasta in the pan. Then there’s the merging of the two in the same video. There’s a sexual quality to the food videos, especially the sound effects.
There’s the slapping thing; people will slap the ingredient on the cutting board. Quick cuts. There’s sandwiches being cut in half, turned vertically, put towards the camera. Squeezed juices are oozing out, right? Meat, layers of meat. There’s something incredibly sexual about it. It’s very bizarre. I wanted to capture this thing I was seeing.
You mentioned your relationship to food and restaurants culture—what do they bring up for you?
You walk into a restaurant, and the branding is so thorough and slick. Like, why are you selling merch? Sometimes I just wish it was simpler. Just trust that the food is good and that people don’t need an environment that feels so perfectly in line with the fonts they’re seeing on Instagram.
