A Melbourne AFL fan’s cheese board stadium snack has everyone talking on social media.
But before you jump on the ‘hipster’ shaming bandwagon, stop and ask yourself: isn’t it about time we stop food shaming Melbourne and give them credit for leading the way in health, mindfulness and general, holistic culinary joy?
The photo was posted on Reddit over the weekend and shows a man enjoying the St Kilda vs. Demons game while balancing a full, gourmet cheese board on his lap.
The board looks to include:
1/2 of an avocado
a wedge of soft cheese
a container of marinated olives
a fresh baguette
some thin fancy ham (we assume it’s Prosciutto)
The AFL fan in question was ousted by yet another Redditor who commented on the original post saying, ‘Haha this is my mate! I was sitting behind him. He also has a whole salmon in his bag.’
Most of the replies on the post are of the stock standard pretentious Melbourne doing it again, variety.
“Melbourne supporters are weird,” said one person commented.
“Was sitting right by you, the guy next to him completed the set with bird feathers in his hat… classic Melbourne,” said another.
“You can tell this dude is Gen Y, can’t go anywhere without some smashed avo.”
But what alternative did this AFL fan have?
A meat pie with tomato sauce? Hot chips? A hot dog?
We spoke to from Jessica Spendlove who is an Accredited Sports Dietician for several major Australian teams including the Cronulla Sharks and Women’s AFL GWS Giants.
She agrees that this guy is dining in style.
“The cheese board is still an indulgent option, but overall it provides much greater nutritional benefits and contains good quality produce, which differs to the usual foods available at the football,” She told Nowtolove.
“Foods such as hot dogs, hot chips and meat pies which are traditionally sold at the football, generally offer little to no nutritional value. They are often made from poor quality ingredients, are heavily processed and are also high in trans fats.”
“In contrast, the cheese board provides much more nutritional value. The avocado & olives are sources of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated (healthy fats) which have heart health benefits. The baguette would also be a better carbohydrate option compared to the traditional hot-dog style bun as it would be much less processed.
“While the cheese is high in saturated fat, it also provides added nutritional benefits such as a good source of protein and calcium,” Jessica concludes.
And it’s not just at the football where we need to stop food shaming Melbourne.
Those deconstructed coffees everyone loves to criticize?
They are actually a great way to get people to sit, slow down and mindfully enjoy a morning coffee, rather than just chucking it down our throats while running to catch the train of a morning.
And those laborious plating displays that Melbourne is famous for?
Same thing.
Studies have shown that regular mindful eating can help you focus, better control your emotions, help with addiction issues, and – as one small study concluded – reduce the size of the right amygdala, a region of the brain linked to the processing of negative emotions, especially sadness and anxiety.
Instead of brushing off Melbourne’s extravagant foodie culture, let’s follow their lead and start taking the time to really enjoy and think about our food again, whether it’s a cheese board at the footy or sitting down to smashed avo of a morning.
Because at this stage, those “pretentious” Melburnians are probably going to out live us all.
