As studies show, the dishes that we filmed and posted on the social network are, in a sense, tastier than those that we did not have time or did not want to “document”.
It is not at all easy to take a good photo of a dish. Both composition and lighting are important here — preferably natural. Often in a restaurant or cafe we see how such a picky photographer, grabbing a plate, rushes from his table to the window: only there you can take an Instagram-worthy shot! (an extremist organization banned in Russia) Of course, if there is no natural light, you can also use a flash. And finally, especially demanding craftsmen, going out to eat, take a tripod like GorillaPod with them to fix the camera. They will not sit lounging at the table — after all, it is best to remove the dish from the top point, which means that during the meal they will have to jump up more than once, and perhaps even onto a chair.
It seems that photographing food looks like just entertainment and a tribute to fashion, and yet this phenomenon has already become the subject of research, the results of which were recently published in The Journal of Consumer Marketing.
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In total, a team of researchers from several US universities conducted three studies, each with more than 120 participants.
The task of the first was to understand how the process of filming itself, which precedes eating, affects the consumer. Participants were divided into 4 groups: those who took / did not take photos of healthy food, and those who took / did not take photos of unhealthy food. As a healthy dish, a fruit salad was offered, as a harmful one — a very popular Red Velvet cake in America.
It turned out that those who first photographed the cake found it much more delicious than those who tasted it right away. But in the other two groups, which got the fruit salad, the taste sensations were practically the same.
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In the second study, the task was to better understand how the perception of healthy and unhealthy food differs if you first photograph it. The participants were offered the same Red Velvet cake. At the same time, one group was told that the recipe for the cake included such «seditious» ingredients as cream, cheese and icing. Participants in the second were told it was a diet cake that included apple mousse, egg whites, and fat-free frosting. As it is easy to guess the first group rated their «harmful» cake much higher.
A third study found that a good example is contagious. Having seen enough photos of dishes from the “healthy” menu on social networks that our friends or even strangers are going to taste, we ourselves will get more pleasure from mousses with acai berry, and cabbage smoothies will no longer seem unpleasant to us. In other words, since others have made a choice in favor of a healthy diet, then we will follow it more willingly.
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The researchers conclude that photography makes our interaction with food more complex. While we conjure over the composition of the picture, choose the angle of the shot, change the lighting, etc., thereby delaying the process of eating, we all look forward to the upcoming pleasure, and when we finally try the food, it really seems to us tastier.
This may explain the habit of many social media users. The food that we filmed and posted is, in a sense, tastier than the one that we didn’t have time or didn’t want to “document”.
The findings are consistent with previous studies published in the journal Psychological Science in 2013. It said that any, even the most ordinary ritual, a little delaying the moment when we start eating, makes our perception of food more positive.
See the NyMag website for more details.