clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

What Are Hot Items, Where Can You Eat Them, and Why Is Everyone Obsessed

What is a hot item, and how can it become part of a diet?

‘Hot items’ food article raises a taxonomic discussion about food types and preferences in the New Statesman Greggs [Official Photo]

A diet of hot items inspires a discourse never seen before

“Wraps. Falafels. Hot dogs. Samosas. Bits of hot meat. Greggs vegan sausage rolls. Buttermilk fried chicken cutlets from the branches of Sainsbury’s that have a hot oven.” These, are hot items — the food discourse straight from the uncanny valley launched by an op-ed in the New Statesman. Twitter users have taken to its strange folds, declaring themselves hot items enjoyers; questioning whether it’s all a parody (of what?); asking whether such a blasé look at the choices behind diets is an okay thing to write in an era of food inequality.

Beyond fervent internet recycling, the article’s enduring claim is an ambitious one that the corn dog is the “ultimate hot item” (close behind the idea that eating a tin of peas with soy sauce is normal behaviour.) What would a tiered ranking of hot items look like? The list up top suggests that hot items are to be eaten outside their place of origin, either at home or in transit — but many menus at restaurants also serve hot items. Are hot items instead defined by their portability, even more so than their temperature? Is a sandwich on a plate no longer an item? Are all bits of meat hot, really?

Perhaps it’s best not to get into it. [New Statesman, Twitter]

And in other news...

Circolo Popolare

40-41 Rathbone Place, , England W1T 1HX Visit Website