Paper short abstract:

This presentation asks how this insulin-as-villain story is not only a product of postindustrial metabolic science (Landecker, 2013) but also a story that gains its popularity in a postindustrial condition, and in the case of Korea, in a milieu where eating is digitally mediated in many ways.

Paper long abstract:

For most ordinary Koreans at the turn of the 21st century, insulin was known as an agent for blood sugar control, and something that people with diabetes would need to control their blood sugar levels. In recent years, since the late 2010s, insulin is increasingly narrated as a villain, a fattening hormone which, if repeatedly secreted in excess, will lead one to obesity and diabetes in the future. This insulin-as-villain story is based on the carbobydrate-insulin model of obesity and the notions of “blood sugar spikes” and “insulin resistance”, and has become popular in combination with diverse forms of unconventional dieting methods such as low-carb-high-fat (LCHF), intermittent fasting, and more recently “blood sugar diets”. This presentation asks how this insulin-as-villain story is not only a product of postindustrial metabolic science (Landecker, 2013) but also a story that gains its popularity in a postindustrial condition, and in the case of Korea, in a milieu where eating is digitally mediated in many ways.