As many others have noted, often food updates receive the most comments on FB statuses (my simple status: "Parmesan makes everything better" is definitely one of my most commented updates on my FB). I just thought I'd point out the obvious though, that this very thread discussing food on AoIR has generated more replies than any other topics the past few days. This is certainly not considered a banal or trivial space, and yet here we are discussing food. And just as the conversation from "Facebook annoyances" has evolved to address all these different food-related remarks, a similar thing often happens in response to food updates on Twitter/FB. Food is simultaneously embedded within many cultural and personal implications, but on the surface is also a rather benign topic. Thus it seems to have the potential to lead to so many different conversations that aren't really about food at all. Food updates often function as some sort of back door approach to discussing personal memories, routines, tastes, habits, relationships, etc. perhaps because food is simultaneously so personal and yet seemingly so trivial. Just my two cents on why food updates generate so many comments (on FB and apparently on the listserv!) Best, - jacqueline -- Jacqueline Vickery Senior Editor, FlowTV.org Doctoral Student University of Texas at Austin Department of Radio-Television-Film http://www.jvickery.com/