Has social media changed the way we eat?

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m one of those people.

I go to a restaurant, order my food and when it arrives, the first thing I do is whip out my iPhone and take a photo.

For those who follow me on Instagram, there is more chance you will know what I have had for tea rather than what I look like.

I am much more inclined to post a picture of my meal than a selfie.

According to The Telegraph, the first flat lay food picture as we know it was taken by French inventor Nicéphore Niépce in 1827 when he photographed a bottle of wine with some bread.

Little did he know that he could have been starting something massive.

#foodstagram or #foodporn have become words that we are very familiar with.

People have no shame in taking snaps of their food and an average of 674 tweets an hour are tweeted using the hashtag #foodporn

As with most social media trends, #foodporn can be divisive.

I, myself, am guilty of taking multiple pictures of my food to post on Instagram. I do it and a lot of my friends do too, but there are others who roll their eyes when I get my phone out in a restaurant.

I once went to dinner with someone who started to eat then regretted not taking a photo and rearranged their plate for a picture pretending it had been untouched. (Disclaimer: It actually wasn’t me).

Some people love scrolling through pictures of food, others may be more inclined to click the ‘unfollow’ button.

Is it just another element in our culture of oversharing?  Last year New York magazine branded avocado on toast ‘the most annoying thing on Instagram’.

Do we choose our food in restaurants based on what will look best on the plate?

We now seem to make more of an effort when making our own food as well.

Last year, Waitrose reported a rise in sales of patterned bowls. Was this a bid to make meals look more aesthetically pleasing?

While there is nothing wrong with documenting what we eat, are we losing the enjoyment of food?

Perhaps we are more fixated on the picture than what we are actually eating.

With a rise in the number of foodies and today’s eating out culture, it seems this hashtag will be sticking around.

Food trends are becoming just as important as fashion trends and some of the pictures really are a work of art.

While #foodporn could be as addictive as its namesake, there is surely no harm in posting a few pictures of a good meal.

What do you think of posting food pictures?

 

(Featured image from http://www.stylist.co.uk)