A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Food Blogs in English

Authors

  • Nour Hamid Abdulsada College of Languages, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq
  • Sudad Fadhil Kadhum Al-Janabi College of Languages, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31973/n8ywjj38

Keywords:

Critical Discourse Analysis, Multimodal, Healthy Food, Instagram, Ideology, Cultural Values

Abstract

The study investigates the American Healthy food blogs on Instagram and how healthy American cuisines are stated and shown to people, explaining the identities and ideologies that have been inserted in these blogs. So this paper aims to examine how bloggers or chefs make use of language rhetoric to shape readers’ attitudes and actions when it comes to food and related subjects and, hence, to examine how American bloggers enhance their text by visuals in their posts and how these elements work together with the written content to see their impact on the values used in American food blogs. To achieve these aims, the paper adopts Fairclough Modal 2015 to investigate the texts with Kress and Van Lewueen modal ( 2006 ) to analyze the images of the selected data, for this concern, the paper raises these questions:   How do food bloggers use language, rhetorical devices, visual features, and emojis to influence readers’ healthy food choices and preferences in their blogs and, hence to what extent do dominant food ideologies reflect in the content of food blogs? How do they reveal cultural values towards food?  The finding of the study states that the bloggers are very engaged with their community and, reflect all occasions traditions, and try with all their ability to reflect their ideologies; these blogs Show how food blogs are not just about recipes but also about identity, culture, expression and shared human habit.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Al-Badri, Z. K. G., & Al-Janabi, S. F. K. . (2022). A Systemic Functional Linguistic and Critical Discourse Analysis of A Selected Speech on COVID-19. Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Special Issue on CALL (8). 314-329. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/call8.21 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/call8.21

Al Utbi. M (2019). A Critical Discourse Analysis of Hate Speech. University of Baghdad. DOI:10.36586/jcl.2.2019.0.39.0019 DOI: https://doi.org/10.36586/jcl.2.2019.0.39.0019

Creswell, J. W. (2015). A Concise Introduction to Mixed Methods Research. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

El Khansa. T (2018). A Critical Discourse Analysis on the Language of Food Bloggers in Lebanon. Lebanese American University https://laur.lau.edu.lb:8443/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10725/8589/Tala_El_Khansa_Thesis_Redacted.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Fadhel. Dh (2021) A Feminist Discourse Analysis of Writer's Gender Biases about Violence Against Women. https://doi.org/10.36586/jcl.2.2021.0.44.0021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.36586/jcl.2.2021.0.44.0021

Fairclough, N. (2015). Language and Power (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge.

Fairclough, N., & Wodak, R. (1997). Critical Discourse Analysis. In T. A. van Dijk (Ed.), Discourse as Social Interaction: Discourse Studies 2 (A Multidisciplinary Introduction). (pp. 258–284). London: Sage

Johnson, B. K., & Knobloch-Westerwick. (2016). When misery avoids company: selective social comparisons to photographic online profiles. Human Communication Research, 43(1), 54-75 https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/u.osu.edu/dist/4/13821/files/2015/05/Johnson-Knobloch-Westerwick-2017.-Human-Communication-Resesarch-ts5qxa.pdf DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/hcre.12095

Ki, C. ‐. W. ‘. C. ’., & Kim, Y. ‐. K. (2019). The mechanism by which social media influencers persuade consumers: The role of consumers’ desire to mimic. Psychology & Marketing, 36(10), 905– 922. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21244 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21244

Kress, G, & Van Leeuwen, T. (1996). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. New York: Routledge.

Kress, G. &Van Leeuwen. (1996). Reading Images: the Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge.

Kress, G. (2010). Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. Routledge.

Kress, G., & Van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London/ New York: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203619728

Mayr, A. (2016). 11. Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA). In N-M. Klug & H. S. De Gruyter (Eds.), Handbuch Sprache Im Multimodalen Kontext (pp. 261-276). De Gruyter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110296099-012

Miles, J. 2014. Instagram Power – Build your brand and reach more customers with the power of pictures. McGraw-Hill Education, New York.

O’Halloran, K.L. (2011). Multimodal Analysis and Digital Technology. In A. Baldry and E. Montagna(Eds.), Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Multimodality: Theory and Practice. Campobassso: Palladino

Poliakova, A. (2017). #Instagram: Investigating the influence of healthy food posts on consumer purchase intention SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/%23Instagram%3A-Investigating-the-influence-of-healthy-Poliakova/f371acee628cfb4f729313bfdf885b8a5ce49b85

S. Kadhum (2017). Textual Architecture of a Selected Hard News in English: A Discourse Analysis Approach, in Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Vol. (8) No.(1) (pp.280-296 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol8no1.20 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol8no1.20

Tian, H. (2006). Critical perspective on discourse studies: From Critical Linguistics to Critical Discourse Analysis. Shandong Foreign Language Teaching, (2), 40-47.

Uzunoglu, E and Kip S (2014) Brand communication through digital influencers: Leveraging blogger engagement, International Journal of Information Management, 34 (1) pp.592–602. DOI:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2014.04.007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2014.04.007

Van Dijk, T. A. (2001). Critical discourse analysis. In D. Tannen, D. Schiffrin, & H. Hamilton (Eds.), Handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 352-371). Oxford: Blackwell.

Walsh M.J., Baker S.A. Clean Eating and Instagram: Purity, Defilement, and the Idealization of Food. Food Cult. Soc. 2020;23:570–588. https://www.oxfordsymposium.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Walsh-Baker-2020-Preprint.pdf DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15528014.2020.1806636

Wodak, R. & Meyer, M. (2001). Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Sage DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857028020

Yang, J., Zhang, Y., Zhu, Y., & Wang, Q. (2007, January). Intelligent fault diagnosis of rolling element bearing based on SVMs and statistical characteristics. In International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (Vol. 42908, pp. 525–536). DOI:10.1016/j.ymssp.2006.10.005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1115/MSEC2007-31183

Downloads

Published

2026-06-14

Issue

Section

English linguistics and literature

How to Cite

Abdulsada, N. ., & Al-Janabi, S. . (2026). A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Food Blogs in English. Al-Adab Journal, 68(2), 105-136. https://doi.org/10.31973/n8ywjj38

Publication Dates

Received

2025-03-25

Revised

2025-04-20

Accepted

2025-04-27

Published Online First

2026-06-15

Similar Articles

1-10 of 918

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.