Have you ever found yourself sitting at a restaurant and upon receiving your entree, you quickly whisk out your smartphone and start taking multiple snaps from various angles of your meal just to post it on Instagram? Well, just to inform you, you're not alone. Food pictures are amongst one of the most popular snaps on Instagram. Why is this so? Well, Instagram was founded on the principle of taking pictures of your daily encounters either with people, material articles, and now even food. Food is one of the few things that everyone encounters on a daily basis and, that too, multiple times throughout the day. It is also one of the things that can be one's best friend and biggest enemy (hello calories!). For this reason, "instagramming" food has become a popular past-time.
The act of taking pictures of your meals has become so common that some restaurants have even adapted to this new form of entertainment. For example, a New York restaurant, Comodo, has implemented an Instagram menu where their customers are directed to pictures of food posted under their Instagram hashtag (#ComodoMenu) to help them decide what to order. They have placed this instruction on the bottom of their real menu to encourage people to use this form of social media. The owner of Comodo has even stated, "We've been encouraging guests to post pictures on Instagram to spread
the word, and the feedback has been great. Everyone keeps telling us how
smart and creative it is." This just goes to show that by incorporating Instagram as a part of their restaurant service, they are able to interact with their consumers on a whole different level.
While some have embraced this form of picture-taking, others are
completely against it. Some restaurants have even banned taking pictures
of their food. They argue that "constantly whipping out your phone to
document each course distracts from the meal, your dining companion, and
even the chef" (Nesterov). In addition, many people have sided with
this sentiment because they feel that it is unnecessary and a complete
waste of time. Also, stating that food isn't to be appealing in
pictures, but rather a form of filling one's stomach and keeping one
healthy. So who do you side with - the Instagram Chefs or the Instagram Antagonists?
http://www.gadling.com/2013/01/26/instagramming-food-fun-or-faux-pas/
http://mashable.com/2012/10/16/instagram-menu/
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