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Part of
Talking about Food: The social and the global in eating communities
Edited by Sofia Rüdiger and Susanne Mühleisen
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society 47] 2020
► pp. 15–34

Chapter 2
How less means more in the comments section of vegan food blogs

Exgredients such as gluten-free and extreme case formulations

| Saarland University

Recipes in (vegan) food blogs are often advertised as not having certain ingredients such as gluten or refined sugar. In the comments sections of posts topicalising such exgredients (linguistically, no-X constructions like soy-free or no nuts), extreme case formulations (e.g. always or entirely) are employed to (a) construct the urgency of a request for an alternative, (b) index the liability and safety of a suggestion for an alternative as expert advice, (c) construct alternatives as rare and precious finds to share with the community, and (d) compliment the blogger.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Dietary lifestyles
    • 2.2Food genres: Recipes and blogs
    • 2.3Exgredients: The use of ‘no-X’ constructions in food blogs’ recipe sections
    • 2.4Extreme case formulations
  • 3.The data
  • 4.The ‘no-X’ construction in the comments section of food blogs: Extreme case formulations
    • 4.1Non-rhetoric extreme case formulations
    • 4.2Constructing the urgency of the request for an alternative
    • 4.3Indexing the liability and safety of a suggestion for an alternative as expert advice
    • 4.4Constructing alternative ways as rare and precious finds to share with the community
    • 4.5Complimenting the blogger
  • 5.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 18 June 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.47.02ger
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