Why does one lobster shack have a two-hour line while the identical one across the street sits empty?
In this People Stuff special episode, anthropologists Dan Souleles and Michael Scroggins break down why food culture today isn’t about taste—it’s about being seen. From Red’s Eats in Maine to Magnolia Bakery and Instagram-famous bagel shops, they unpack conspicuous consumption in the age of social media, where attention is the real currency.
📌 Topics include:
Conspicuous consumption (Thorstein Veblen)
Instagram and the attention economy
Why blind taste tests don’t matter
Eating for the photo, not the flavor
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Chapters
00:00 — A lobster shack mystery
01:15 — Same food, same ratings, different lines
02:35 — Instagram ruins local cuisine
03:10 — Conspicuous consumption, refracted
03:50 — Waiting in line for attention
04:35 — Are you even a person if you didn’t post it?
#Anthropology #FoodCulture #ConspicuousConsumption #InstagramCulture #PeopleStuff #SocialTheory #AttentionEconomy
