via ANTI-OPPRESSIVE BABY ANIMALS
So, I’ve been hearing this phrase here and there quite a bit lately. The message itself is pretty simple: If what I enjoy isn’t hurting anyone, don’t try to make me feel bad over it.
Thing is, I’d always assumed it was a direct quote from Still Life With Woodpecker, by Tom Robbins. Searching through with Google books, however, I don’t see an occurrence of that phrase as it is currently used. The closest I can find is this (frequently quoted) line:
“There are only two mantras, yum and yuck, mine is yum.”
During the course of the book, there are about a dozen or so riffs on the subject of “yums” and “yucks”, but never that specific phrase. So I decided to waste some time on Google to see if I could find some sort of internet etymological source.
So far, there’s a definition on Urban Dictionary from 2008 focusing specifically on food (9 out of 10 results are pulling up cooking blogs), a Yahoo! Answers from last year that says it started in queer circles (which is where I’ve primarily been hearing it), a Daily Kos article from 2008 that I’m not even gonna link to because it is dumb, more cooking blogs, more queer cooking blogs, the image macro I’m using as an article header, a Livejournal blog from 2004 about relationships going sour (AKA, a Livejournal article) that just uses it as a title but seems to be the first appearance of the phrase I can find, and this surprisingly deep video:
So, readers. Any insight on the origin of the phrase? Anything to say one way or the other on the subject of yucks and yums?
Rani Baker Digs You. 
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/910755
I did the same search and found this
I always assumed Ze Frank was the origin. It wouldn’t be the first time something he said or did escaped into the wild.
Whoops, edit, found this dated 2008: http://www.untileveryonehears.com/2009/11/dont-yuck-my-yum.html
That blog is invitation only. If it’s the original source, I’m *very* interested to know whether or not they’d like credit (where possible). 2008 sounds likely to be the origin.
Ze Frank? the guy that makes those animal videos? Crazy!!!!
Have you ever been cited in a research paper? because if not, you just have! thanks for the info and sharing your deep dive!
Destroy gender and have a great day rani!
I found this to be a fascinating and captivating read. I think your research into the etymology of such a moving phrase is nothing short of inspirational. A phrase that rings true across the multiverse. Learning about the history of this phrase quite frankly helped me understand almost everything I have been wondering about throughout my short sojourn on this Little Rock. Don’t get me wrong, we live on a floating rock, and nothing fucking matters. Jk.
So the Phrasing for Don’t Yuck My Yum actually Came from a Food neutral Eating Disorder Support group for Parents of Children with SED/ARFID in the beginning stages Back in the day – Called – Mealtime Hostage – Which started off as a blog from a Parent with quite a few followers on common ground – It caught on pretty Quick amongst the support group and spread to therapists among those circles and out into the “real world” – Especially as the support group grew over the years for families and adults who came to know themselves to live with ARFID and SED and had a title to put on something they had lived with their whole life with out having a title to put to it. But – That’s where the phrasing has come from lol.
2004 season 2 of lilo and stitch started episode 13, morpholomew also happens to use this phrase, I think that was the begining of 2005 though, that might be how it picked up mainstream