Speaking to Glamour last year, Millie Bobby Brown said: “Oh I do not take pictures of my meals. That is where I draw the line. My camera does not eat first. I think it’s just ridiculous.”
Now, I always thought ‘more fool her, to be honest’ because why wouldn’t you want to take a photo of food that you’ve either lovingly prepared or, even better, had lovingly prepared for you?
These things do just come down to preference, though. I personally will take a photo of an even slightly fancy-looking soup but I can ultimately understand why people wouldn’t feel the need to document every bit of gorgeous grub that they consume.
However, according to a study, taking photos of your food can actually make it taste better.
Why taking photos of your food makes it taste better
According to the researchers at UC San Diego and St Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, taking photos of your food actually does more than just make your Instagram grid look delish, it also makes the food taste better but, of course, there is a small catch.
The researchers found that when you take a photo of your food before eating it, it prompts you to pay more attention to its taste when you do finally tuck into your meal thanks to delayed consumption and increased savouring.
However, this is only true for foods that feel ‘indulgent’ and not if the food is or feels healthy.
If the food is healthy, photographing it will only make it taste better if you believe that you should eat healthy foods.
As for the impact on seeing other people’s photos of food, Suzanne Higgs, professor in the psychobiology of appetite at the University of Birmingham said to the BBC: “There is some evidence that, if you see pictures of food, that visual stimulation can prompt you to feel a desire to eat.”
This makes sense when you consider how many traditional menus had photos of food on them as well as cookbooks being filled with lavish food snaps!