Mystery Meat: Photographer Portrays Fast Food in a Ghastly New Light

Last Updated on 08/13/2014 by Chris Gampat

All photographs by Peter Augustus. Used with permission.

We should altogether stop ourselves from getting sucked into those elaborate, perfectly presented, and weirdly vivid images of food that most fast food restaurants present in commercials and adverts to entice the hungry masses to consume their grubs, and for once, get real. I think we all know by now that those are fake, and their real counterparts, possibly made of something else other than what should be, are not really that appetizing to look at, let alone ingest.

Here’s a series that forces you to look upon face the reality behind your favorite fast food meals. While the rest of the world are getting into food photography, or in many cases, food pornography, with legit photographers coming up with delectable ways to photograph (real) food and addicted Instagrammers spending a lot more time than necessary to get a good shot of their next meal, Hong Kong-based American photographer Peter Augustus is getting on a different bandwagon that is entirely his own.

In an attempt to raise more awareness on the horrors of fast food and the chillingly lack of knowledge the Western world has about what ingredients make up their overly-processed, prepackaged food, Peter presents food in a ghastly light in his series aptly called “Mystery Meat.”

In Mystery Meat, patties are substituted with pig snouts, deli meats are replaced with pig legs, and veiny intestines stand-in for hotdogs–the photographs summing up a hard and effective message that we all must learn and live by.

See more of the photos from the series after the jump and maybe you’ll think twice before defaulting to the drive-thru at McDonald’s come dinnertime.

To see more of Peter Augustus’ work, visit his website or follow him on Twitter.