Finding Food Porn: Critiquing Scanwiches

Have you ever had a hankering for olive loaf, american cheese, pickles, and mayo on wheat bread? That was the newest post In the blog "Scanwiches" , posted on August 31st. It was a sandwich made at the 5 Burough Bistrow in New York City.

The premise of this widely popular blog on Tumblr is all about one man and many, many sandwiches. The creator of "Scanwiches" is a graphic designer who also has the double identity of a severe foodie. He scans pictures of sandiches he buys or makes himslef into his scanner for the estetically pleasing and vibrant image. Jon Chonko, the creator of the blog, may be one of the leaders in the new visual food pandemic thats been sweeping the internet, also known as "Food Porn."

Recently the blog's fame had led to a contest by Jon Chonko, created to continuing extending the hype of the blog. The contest was called "Fanwiches" and the mission was to immortalize the next great Sandwich. The "Fanwich" would then join the ranks of other famed named foods like: Caesar salad, Reaban sandwich, and beef Stroganoff.

The contest was judged by: the blog's creator (John Chonko), April Winchell (runs Regretsy), Melissa Vaughn (recipe developer and Author) and Powerhouse Books. First prize won their Scanwich to be presented in the "Scanwiches" book out for open release November 23rd 2011 (on National Sandwich day, no less). They also get five signed copies of the "Scanwiches" book and a framed picture of the sandwich. 

 The above picture shows the winner, a sandwich called "The Stalwart Goatherd" created by Brianne M. The sandwich contained: Montchevre goat cheese, honey, roasted beets, roasted red pepper, roasted garlic spread, Arugula, on raisin and nut whole wheat bread. 

Yeah, that's right--the "Scanwiches" book. The blog has hit such high fandom that it has become a book. However, one can only assume that after looking at pages and pages of different sandwiches the only result that can be conceived is hunger closely followed by boredom. One question might be, why would the fans of the blog pay the $19.95 for a copy of what they have already seen for free on the internet. 

The pros of this blog would be its remarkable innovation. Who thinks to scan their sandwich in high quality photo working for all of the internet space to see? Its a great concept although it may be a slightly repetitive and reoccurring one. The readers and visualizers of the blog are also shown a variety of interesting tastes that other people may not have thought of. The flavor combinations of Octopus and mixed Italian salad may not be apparent to even the most passionate of the foodies. 

On the other side on the argument, no matter how passionate the reader is about a good and appealing sandwich, how long can anyone look at page after page of sandwiches with limited explanation or informative reasoning. Id like to see more definitions and more written descriptions added to "Scanwiches" for  it to be a blog that is more pleasing and satisfactory to readers who want to do more then stare at pretty pictures of sandwiches

my closing words for this blog? Is it lunchtime yet? 

For  more information on the "Scanwiches" blog click here to their Tumblr site or here for more information on the "Scanwiches" book