I had no idea that “grocery shaming” was a thing, but according to Ian Somerhalder, it most certainly is. Apparently, when Somerhalder was food shopping, shoppers gathered around his grocery basket to gape at the incredibly healthy choices Somerhalder had selected. So, in a frenzy, Somerhalder took to Instagram to share his feelings over being “grocery shamed.”
“A woman just stopped me in the grocery store and told me that she had never seen a basket like mine…A few others chimed in saying that it was a very strange sight! WTF? A strange sight? I’m in a grocery store.It’s food.It got me thinking and really fired up…I hear in the news constantly, in legislative bodies debating and the public complaining out right bitching about healthcare costs, drug companies and doctors and what rising costs do to our society, our lives and our economy. I know our system isn’t great.Yet, the public poisons itself daily with bad food choices. Food is medicine and medicine is food. It’s a fact.”
I am so confused by this post. Where the hell does Ian Somerhalder live? What part of the U.S. has never seen a vegetable in a grocery store before? I call bullshit. I am not buying the story that people simply had to halt going about their business just to gawk at produce. Somerhalder had to have been toting something extremely bizarre in his cart.
I’ve been studying the Instagram picture of Somerhalder’s cart for a while to decipher what might actually have been in there, but it’s a very narrow picture. What I can discern is that he does appear to have a fuckton of greenery in his shopping basket. I can certainly understand the desire to eat healthly and have fresh food, but maybe “the strange sight” people were referring to was the sight of Ian Somerhalder purchasing an entire botanical garden in the grocery store. That’s literally the only logical rationale I can come up with for why shoppers felt so compelled to stop and comment on his purchases
Well, this prompted Somerhalder to launch an entire Instagram rant about how people don’t exercise, make excuses, eat conveniently packaged foods, and they’re the ones at fault for how shitty the American health care system is. While some of these points might be somewhat valid, mostly, it comes off as obnoxious to the average person.
Somerhalder is a major celebrity who was paid roughly $40,000 per Vampire Diaries episode, which is more than many people make in a year. It’s very easy for him to preach the virtues of eating naturally and living a particular lifestyle when he has the funds to do so. This guy can afford to work out whenever he wants, hire a personal trainer and nutritionist if he feels like it, and spend enough money on fresh produce to fill an entire greenhouse when many people struggle to afford fresh food. When this sort of self-righteous preachiness comes from a hot-shot star, sorry, Somerhalder, but it does make you sound like an ass.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go finish off my bottle of Chianti and Chinese food takeout.