The gradual normalisation of food photography.
Picture this: you’ve spotted a new restaurant on your feed and can no longer fight the temptation from the mouth-watering images you’re bombarded with. After numerous calendar clashes and a seemingly never-ending waitlist, the day of your reservation finally comes around. You’re sat amongst the dimly lit lights with the hum of ambient jazz and the buzz of general chit chat from those around you. In your eye-line is a table with a young couple sat facing each other holding hands over the table, and you can’t help but play the game of “do you think they’re on a first date?”. A few away from them you’ve got a couple who must be mid-fifties; one’s deeply engrossed in their phone whist the other obliviously talks into the abyss, you and your friend instantaneously blurt out “definitely married!”, but your juvenile laughter comes to a halt. You’re gently interrupted by the incredible aromas drawing closer to you, as your waiter skillfully places down your starters. The small plates are dotted around the table, each one a work of art in its own right, but the question is…Do you:A. Make a beeline for the cutlery and tuck in.
B. Take one covert slap dash photo, because after all – memories are forever.
C. Your phone’s been clutched in your hand with the camera app ready, every last dish MUST be photographed and videoed from all angles.
Whether you like to admit it or not, the majority of people today will sit somewhere between B and C, but don’t forget the A’s who state “I’m actually too hungry to even take a picture”, as though it’s a legal requirement. Regardless of where you stand on snapping your meal before devouring it, it’s no argument that it’s generally common place amongst diners when eating out especially from millennials and below. However, that of course wasn’t always the case, those of us who remember the OG Instagram will also remember a time where pulling your phone out to capture your food would have been considered going against the norm. For those brave enough to do it, you’d be met with judgemental whispers and a surge of second-hand embarrassment from those around you. But alas, the more we started to see high-grain, Valencia filtered food pics on our feeds, the more we became accustomed to them, and therefore taking them ourselves.
The reality is, in the age of social media and technology, we document so many aspects of our lives (be it publicly or for personal use), so it’s inevitable that our food fits into this. There’s a number of reasons for the normalisation of food photography, with social media being at the core of many of them. For instance, Instagram and TikTok have allowed for the rise of the everyday food blogger, opening metaphorical seats in an area that was once considered to be reserved for ‘the elite’. Gone are the days of food critics being these mysterious shadowy figures, sat aloof in the corner of a restaurant, leaving room for the relatable, honest everyday content creators. This greater accessibility created through social networks, catapulted especially through TikTok, has helped remove the taboo around sharing aspects of our lives (in this case what we’ve had for dinner) with others.
And of course, we couldn’t go through a whole article without one mention of covid – because is there anything it didn’t impact?? More specifically, the lockdowns created an appreciation and urge to live life to the fullest for many people. There was a universal desire to spend our time doing things that we enjoy, which for many people is eating delicious food at delicious restaurants. Along with this this, came a sense that if we’re spending our hard-earned money on something as impermanent as food, the least we could do is have a visual token to remember it
Despite this overall shift in perspectives towards a general sense of acceptance, there’s always going to be adversaries. This raises the question of whether there’s still an air of snobbery when it comes to photographing your food? For those who are less acquainted with social media it would be fair to say that they’ve been less ‘desensitised’ to the idea – but this isn’t to be assumed as only older demographics who take this view. Recently, a clip of Millie Bobbie-Brown emerged, in which she vehemently states “I do not take pictures of my meals”, describing the act as a hard “cringe”. And whilst no shade to Millie intended, she’s just a recent example of an existing opinion; but her statement does reinforce the notion that doing so is tacky and something to refrain from. Of course, it all comes down to a matter of opinion, but coming from someone in a privileged position, who’s able to eat at fancy restaurants on the daily, her take feels somewhat exclusionary.
We also aren’t to forget the stealth snap-shotters who want visual evidence of their culinary escapades, but feel too shy to start rearranging plates to get the perfect table flat-lay. For many, they’ll get a quick pic, hope for the best, then go home and realise it’s too blurry to even post on their story. But again, this is partly rooted in the idea that it’s something to be embarrassed of, at least to an extent. Of course, you have to read the room, and good manners/no phones at the table might come into play. But ultimately, whether you’re getting paid for it or not, there’s no harm in wanting to savour the moment in a photograph, just as you would at a gallery or on any other day out.
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