It’s Never Just About the Food: Food as Disruption

e recent ‘egging’ of a right-wing Australian politician prompted this investigation into food as disruption. ‘Pieing’, ‘egging’ and more recently ‘milkshaking’ can all be classified as political pranks which use food to embarrass and humiliate authority figures. Often in these cases the foodstuff bears no relation to the prankster’s grievance and is merely a convenient instrument for creating a scene and making a mess. Food however can be used to send potent messages as the latest spate of ‘yogurting’ in Greece demonstrates. Drawing on recent events, this paper considers the use of food in political pranks and suggests that while the medium may not always be the message, there is always a message in the medium.