40 Slightly Disturbing And Funny Pics Of Food Posted By “Totally Gourmet” (2024)

Curiosities, Food

You can easily lose your way in the world of food if you don’t watch where you’re going. As you navigate the Isles of Gordon Ramsay and sail around the Jamie Oliver Peninsula, you’re eventually bound to come across the seemingly-endless Desert (not dessert) of Weird Food. And in the middle stands none other than the city of ‘Totally Gourmet’ (Population: 118,000), its streets filled with bizarre sights that show off the strange and sometimes unsettling side of cooking, cuisine, and nosh.

The ‘Totally Gourmet’ page is run by none other than Sébastien Mathys and Jonas Nyffenegger. If their names sound familiar, then it’s probably because you’ve read Bored Panda’s previous post about their other incredibly popular Instagram page, ‘Ugly Design.’ Now, Sébastien and Jonas are shocking the world once again—but with food! Check out some of the weirdest and most mesmerizing food-related pics from ‘Totally Gourmet’ below and upvote the ones that made your eyes pop and your jaws drop, dear Pandas. Planning to skip lunch after this post (we just might)? Let us know in the comment section below.

Sébastien and Jonas told Bored Panda that 'Totally Gourmet' started as a spin-off of 'Ugly Design. They explained that they're both passionate about cooking and thought that the amazing food pictures that they found online deserved a dedicated page. "We like to experiment in the kitchen and try new flavors whenever given the opportunity. If you are a food artist please share your work with us, we would love to see (taste) what you do!" Read on for the full interview.

More info: Instagram (Totally Gourmet) | Instagram (Ugly Design) | Ugly.Design

When Bored Panda asked Sébastien and Jonas what could be done if readers suddenly lose their appetites when looking at photos from the 'Totally Gourmet' page, the pair weren't surprised at all. "We know what you mean. This occurs to us as well... DM us when this happens. We have tips to help, depending on the picture," they said. So, dear Pandas, if you find yourself put off from eating after this list, send a direct message to the curators of the page and they might just have a solution for you.

Sébastien and Jonas also revealed that they have quite a few food and cooking disaster stories between them in their lives. And they shared the worst one of them.

"Younger Jonas organized a Surströmming party in a public park in Geneva with a few friends and me," Sébastien said. "Surströmming is a Swedish delicacy made of fermented fish. Most of our friends refused to even try and backed away from the smell. Actually, the scent was so strong that everybody in a radius of 50m decided to leave. Even a group of punks. Our tasting was too trash for them." Got any similar stories to share, dear Pandas? Let us know in the comment section!

We’re drawn to weirdness and ugliness. It’s a very human experience to be captivated by something that’s far from aesthetically pleasing. And that’s exactly the primal human fascination with ugliness that the ‘Totally Gourmet’ team manage to capture in the pics that they post.

There’s a lot of similarity between ‘Totally Gourmet’ and ‘Ugly Design,’ namely, the ugliness and the shock value. Sébastien and Jonas earlier spoke to Bored Panda about their other project, ‘Ugly Design,’ and attributed its success to the fact that their content creates a huge contrast to the “norm-perfect” pictures that can usually be found in people’s Instagram feeds.

“When seeing an ugly design rather than perfect aesthetics (as defined in the 21st century)—scrollers takes notice,” Sébastien and Jonas told Bored Panda that the key is to avoid predictability and embracing what’s unexpected.

The curators of ‘Ugly Design’ and ‘Totally Gourmet’ explained that they believe ugliness is a topic that’s bottomless and will always have something to offer in terms of content. So you can expect a lot more extraordinary and strange content from Sébastien and Jonas in the near future, that’s for sure!

Storytelling, journalism, and art are a core part of who I am. I've been writing and drawing ever since I could walk—there is nothing else I'd rather do. My formal education, however, is focused on politics, philosophy, and economics because I've always been curious about the gap between the ideal and the real.At work, I'm a Senior Writer and I cover a broad range of topics that I'm passionate about: from psychology and changes in work culture to healthy living, relationships, and design.In my spare time, I'm an avid hiker and reader, enjoy writing short stories, and love to doodle.I thrive when I'm outdoors, going on small adventures in nature. However, you can also find me enjoying a big mug of coffee with a good book (or ten) and entertaining friends with fantasy tabletop games and sci-fi movies.

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