As mentioned above, I Am Hungry AF (@iamstarvingaf) is an Instagram meme page that posts content about all things food. But not in the traditional sense—no recipes or Instagram shots of the lovely things you’ve had for lunch.
Rather, it’s memes and posts about relatable realizations and concepts and situations that tie in with food, which in turn might make you super hungry. All right, not all things food then, but better! The 335,000 followers can attest to it.
Bored Panda reached out to the creator of I Am Starving AF to talk about the page, the memes and everything in between.
“When we started with @iamthirtyaf, we'd post about really anything that we found to be relatable/funny,” explained the creator of the page. “We ended up posting about food quite often, and when we noticed that food related content was a theme that kept popping up and was really connecting with our followers, we decided to give it its own page on @iamstarvingaf (we've also done the same with work related content on @iamemployedaf and mental health content on @iamokayaf).”
They continued: “[Food’s] such a broad category and can really have a connection to any part of life. Whether we were sticking with the nostalgic themes from @iamthirtyaf and talking about foods and snacks from our childhood, discontinued '90s foods, etc., or food related themes that we connect with as adults—trying to be responsible and save money by bringing a sandwich to the office for lunch but finding yourself having eaten the sandwich by 10am and still going out for lunch anyway, the relatability of making a healthy decision to buy ingredients for a nice salad at the store and getting home and deciding to order a delivery burrito instead—everyone seems to have something to say about food!”
It’s interesting to see how, despite our unique and personalized experience, the internet has a very strong collective conscience of sorts in terms of memes—how many people tend to relate to seemingly niche experiences. That’s what the creator of I Am Starving AF has noted in our interview:
“One thing I've noticed as I've gotten older is that the priority I give food has changed! If I had $100 for a night out in my 20s, I'd probably buy a dollar slice of pizza for dinner and spend the remaining $99 on cocktails. Now in my 30s, I'd probably spend all $100 on a really great meal and skip the drinks. I don't think I'm alone in that! Good food is, for me at least, something that makes my day better. When I've had a long day at work and feel stressed and overwhelmed, making a nice dinner is therapeutic and is something I look forward to all day. And this seems to be a theme that a lot of people connect with.”
They continued: “It's funny how many little opinions or experiences we have that we think are uniquely our own and then realize, through memes, that it's a shared experience with a lot of other people! Do you hate cooking with other people because you turn into an absolute monster when someone is in your way in the kitchen? Do you roll your eyes at the 5,000 word essay about a study abroad semester in Spain that you have to scroll through before getting to a new recipe? Do you buy a bag of mixed greens every time you go to the grocery store only for it to rot in the back of your refrigerator? Do you also agree that pineapple on pizza is not *that* bad, it's just a social media trend that everyone jumped on like hating Nickelback and the word "moist"? You're not alone! Memes are a fun way to start conversations through humor, and there are a lot of conversations to be had around the topic of food.”
You’d be surprised how much social media platforms play a huge role in shaping food culture and trends through those very same relatable memes. The creator of the meme page explained that there was a time when Google was their go-to place for planning trips–especially ones that aim to experience the restaurant scene to the max. However, they soon came to the realization that many of the best spots recommended on Google are ads for places that want to draw in tourists. But this is where social media like Instagram solved this issue.
“One of my favorite parts of traveling is trying new foods and restaurants, and social media has helped connect people in planning out trips to find great food options that aren't overpriced tourist traps.”
