‘Ketchup and seemingly ranch’: The obsession with Taylor Swift’s food really needs to stop

Taylor Swift seemingly confirmed her relationship with NFL player Travis Kelce last night when she was seen screaming him on in the stands at his Kansas City Chiefs game against the Chicago Bears. She’s in her lover girl era – it’s very cute. Yet, bizarrely, this relationship news has been totally upstaged in the Swifty universe by two condiments and a piece of chicken. Yes, you read that right.

In a pre-game pic shared to Twitter, Taylor was having a snack. “Taylor Swift was eating a piece of chicken with ketchup and seemingly ranch!” the Eras Tour fan account celebrated. And, thus, a thousand memes were born. “Seemingly ranch” is the internet’s new favourite phrase. It’s giving Totally Spies. Legally Blonde. And this isn’t the first time Taylor’s food has gone astronomically viral. Her plate has seriously never known peace.

Not even a week ago, when Taylor shared photos of the back covers from her version of the 1989 album, there was pandemonium over one image of her having an ice cream. “SHE IS EATING ICE CREAM,” screamed one comment. “I’m so proud of her,” added another. “THIS IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME,” claimed a third.

Almost a decade ago in August 2014, Taylor went viral for eating ice cream alone on a park bench in New York. Her fans always seem to have an eye on what she’s eating. And, although the ice cream excitement and chicken-related celebrations are not coming from a place of malice, the interest in what Taylor eats in a day is ludicrously intense.

When she released her Miss Americana album in 2020, Taylor revealed she’d long struggled with disordered eating. “[When I’ve seen] a picture of me where I feel like I looked like my tummy was too big, or… someone said that I looked pregnant … and that’ll just trigger me to just starve a little bit — just stop eating,” she said.

“I thought that I was supposed to feel like I was going to pass out at the end of a show, or in the middle of it,” she added of her struggles. “Now I realise, no, if you eat food, have energy, get stronger, you can do all these shows…[I’ve reconciled] the fact that I’m a size 6 instead of a size double-zero.”

So, to bring it back to the ketchup, seemingly ranch, and ice cream. As one fan pointed out on Twitter: “if I had recovered from an eating disorder and posted a photo of myself eating ice cream and everyone’s first instinct was to remind me of when I had an eating disorder instead of being… normal… I would be pissed off.”

Because, Taylor Swift eating is ordinary and should be treated as such. That’s the biggest win for anyone who’s ever experienced disordered eating: To fuel your body and not feel like you have to agonise over or celebrate it. Just to exist and eat and not think too much more about it. Seemingly ranch, or otherwise.

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Featured image credit via Startraks/Shutterstock