From the hundreds of fad diets to the popularity of cooking shows to the celebrity status that some chefs have reached, there is no end to the ways in which food culture affects our lives. In fact, Americans are so consumed with what they eat, that it’s easy to question: Has food become the new sex?

According to Mary Eberstadt, a research fellow from the Hoover Institution, the desires for sex and food are closely connected.

‘Both desires can make people do things they otherwise would not; and both are experienced at different times by most men and women as the most powerful of all human drives,’ Eberstadt said.

In her article ‘Is Food the New Sex?’ Eberstadt argued that over the past 50 years, a cultural shift has taken place in the values people place on sex and food, respectively. More thought goes into the consumption of food, while sex has almost become mindless. The phrase ‘guilty pleasure’ is more synonymous now with eating something you shouldn’t have than with committing a sex act.

‘It seems like a lot of people our age binge eat at times when they might otherwise be having sex,’ said Erin Pitkow, a junior majoring in cinema. ‘You always see the downtown eateries crammed with college kids on going-out nights.’

The technological revolution has made food even more accessible to society, with the use of pesticides, efficient transportation methods and genetic manipulation, among other things. The diet industry convinces the average citizen that they can better their lives by paying close attention to what they eat and by following a specific plan.

Cooking and diet books are some of the most lucrative in the book industry. Chefs such as Rachael Ray and Bobby Flay have skyrocketed to fame, and Food Network has become so popular that it has spawned the Cooking Channel. Blogs such as www.foodporndaily.com take being up close and personal with food to a new level.

Another theory for equating food to sex is that because food pleases the senses, people use it as a substitute for sex. Take, for instance, a scene from the film ‘Sex and the City,’ where Samantha stuffs her face with guacamole and chips to avoid her desire to sleep with her hot neighbor. Her sexual frustration causes her to gain weight because she replaces sex with food.

Eberstadt also makes the point that a decline in religion has caused people to identify and separate themselves in new ways, specifically through food. Vegetarianism, veganism, macrobiotics and other dietary restriction plans are more than just passing fads ‘ they are ways of life. They have philosophical bases and people dedicate time to matters of food as ideas.

‘Observant Jews and Muslims, among others, have had strict dietary laws from their faiths’ inception; but that is just it ‘ their laws told believers what to do with food when they got it, rather than inviting them to dwell on food as a thing in itself,’ Eberstadt said.

Sex has transformed itself from a taboo into something that’s barely considered anymore. The Internet, cable and other forms of technology have made sex so readily available that it has desensitized Americans toward it. There is no morality aspect to be reckoned with anymore, so people have turned to food consumption as the new controversial topic.