After the initial shock of an incredible disaster like the one that recently befell Japan I think it’s easy to forget about it if you’re not directly involved. The media eventually finds something more timely to report, you already made your donation to help when the disaster first struck, and life, for us, settles back into its regular routine. It’s not malicious – its just easy.
Or maybe that’s just me. I don’t know.
Then last week I read a retweet from Brave Tart; the tweet was by Ethan from Tastes Better with Friends (I had not previously read his blog). He tweeted, “Something I never thought I’d say…I am a Nudie Foodie!” How can you not check out a statement like that? I clicked the provided link.
What I assumed I would see was a post about eating raw food – the nutritional benefits, the best “naked” foods to try, etc. But no! Instead I learned about the recent Nudie Foodie phenomenon in which a group of 18 food bloggers “Peel for Japan”. They’re compiling personal recipes with tasteful (HAHAHA GET IT?) nudes into a book. The book should be on sale in the coming months, and the best part is that 100% of the proceeds are going to a charity “…committed to the Japan relief effort.”
[htmlembed name=”NudieFoodiePic”]
I like that. It’s easy to donate money these days, but it can be difficult to know where your money is really going. Is all of the $100 you could spare this year actually going to poor starving children, or only a certain percentage of it? So I like it when I hear – with complete distinction – that all of the money I’m donating is going into the hands of people who need it (of course…how the charity receiving the money will distribute the funds is completely different. But I’ll hold judgements until an actual charity is selected). Am I starting to sound like a bleeding heart? Alright then, let’s talk about nudity.
I think that anyone who’s used the internet since its inception can agree that there’s a difference between pr0n and nudity. In comparison, nudity on its own can be tasteful and is more about the allure of the hidden and beauty of the human form than about exposure of naughty parts. But why do the Nudie Foodies find it necessary to bare themselves at all? They’re cooks – why not just create a cookbook?
I have no idea. But to speculate? Probably because it’s easier to gain peoples’ attention through nudity than through food (I know, some people are just weird). And probably because everyone I know who cooks already has about a million cookbooks on their shelves. My opinion? It’s fun and it will get more people to donate to a country that still needs help getting through a terrible time. So go on! Get yourself an interesting coffee table book and give some money to people in need.
Mary Gezo
Formerly of both n00bcakes and !Blog, the two magically become one on Spatialdrift; expect some lazy baking and serious nerditude. Also, I love semicolons.
I saw this and think it’s awesome! There’s also the Peko Peko Cookbook which is similar, but with more bloggers and less skin. 🙂
I want to buy that book just to have it 🙂 Nothing like an artsy-nude cookbook to spice up the ‘ol cook book collection. I mean Jamie Oliver is pretty cute but his books are g-rated in terms of photography.
Plus its money going to a good cause. Thanks for blogging about this otherwise I would have missed it. I miss everything because I don’t tweet or use twitter… I want to start but I don’t know if an excuse to spend even MORE time than I already do surfing the web is a good idea. Decisions decisions
@Jessica – I saw the Peko Peko book just this week! I was totally going to bring that up in a future post as a more kid-friendly cook-contributing alternative. 😀
@Stephanie – I heartily second your thoughts on Jamie Oliver. Adorable, but decidedly PG. *wistful sigh*
As to tweeting…the only reason I started using Twitter was for this blog. I sometimes hate admitting I like it, but it *is* a great way to communicate with readers and talk to fellow blagging friends. #ohwell