Instagram is ruining food | Hacker News Reader

Instagram is ruining food

bostonglobe.com

16 pointsgammarator16 comments

The article has a video included: "How to take better food photos for Instagram"

Is it just me or this story requires fb login? Maybe it's time for HN to introduce some form of tagging such articles during submission?

Just hit "Close" on the top left.

There is a subtle "close" link in the top left corner of the pop up.

I would love to see some tagging for paywalled articles. It feels like I've been seeing more of them lately.

Instagram has largely been a net positive for food and restaurants. Pre-Instagram, creating buzz for a new restaurant was pretty difficult; now at least some types of restaurants are able to get the word out quickly.

The article discusses this extensively, and is perhaps more even-handed than its title might suggest. The balance seems to be that Instagram may be a net positive for restaurants, but not for food; those things are not the same, and the author's hypothesis is that short term optimization for the former may result, in the longer run, significant negative impact on the latter, which will of course circle back around again and hurt the former dramatically. This seems pretty compelling to me. It's easy (and not always wrong) to dismiss dismissivness around advertising in food as hoighty pretension, but I think there's a worthy conversation to be had in the form-over-function optimization it encourages. Visual spectacle is only one axis on which food needs to be appreciated, and the concern here is that it's being over-emphasized at the expense of other, very important factors.

Just being honest here: I don't want a restaurant to survive or thrive because it can create a buzz. I want it to survive because it has good food. Good service is a nicety too. If it doesn't have those, I want it to fail. In all the products/services we create and consume, we should be focusing on providing quality rather than creating an appealing appearance that ultimately doesn't satisfy. I feel like real food has suffered in this way, just look at what has happened to Red Delicious apples and standard grocery tomatoes through the past decades. Very beautiful in appearance, but lacking in substance.

You and I both. But in my experience, this has always been the case, since before Instagram and it will continue after Instagram. Some people like dining to be a more holistic experience that is less emphatically focused on the taste of the food and the quality of the ingredients.

Appearance, buzz, hype, and everything else that comes from the non-food elements of dining out has never done much for me and my wife. But we know plenty of people who value those attributes highly. When going out with friends, we'll often be swayed to go to places that have more visual or thematic embellishment than flavor and food quality. And that's fine.

It sounds like Instagram is simply a continuation of that, perhaps an amplification of that. But some of us will continue to prefer restaurants that focus on flavor and quality first. Yes, atmosphere matters, but I never take selfies, and I very rarely photograph my food. The delight of a free market is that I can support vendors that respect the things I value, and do so regularly, all the while others have distinct preferences and the market serves us both. Even this article is a bit of the market in action: a non-trade signal to chefs to remember that some out there may spend their money on a really good stew.

You're right of course. Different people with different priorities and the market can serve both and did so before Instagram. The examples I gave (tomatoes and apples) are examples. This is the way things are. I just don't like certain aspects of it ;-)

How do you find these restaurants? I am genuinely interested because I hate the Instagram pretentiousness and the restaurants which encourage this.

I see you are located in California so the app/site may not be relevant (I am in France) but still (I visit the US on a regular basis so at least I will not be eating with people standing on they chairs when taking pictures instead of enjoying the food and friends)

> people standing on they chairs when taking pictures instead of enjoying the food

Haha! I suspect it might have something to do with the relaxed culture of the Southern California beach cities. I've never seen anyone standing on chairs taking photos. Around here, that would probably create mirth and laughter among the other people at the restaurant. It's fine if you want to do that, but it's not a common behavior.

I have seen a few people take photos of their plates (while seated), but even that is pretty uncommon. Most people around here are just interested in chatting with the other people at their table. But if you want to take photos of your food, have fun!

I agree. Without real numbers, customers and particularly millennial's purchasing habits are really just conjecture.

What we see: "going out" to restaurants has decreased across the board - in general

What _could_ be attributed: Small Restaurants that are "Instagrammable" are not seeing as great a dropoff in clientele as your Applebees/Olive Garden big franchises. Instagram is attributed for the decline of Applebees/Olive Garden style franchises.

I'm not sure about the premise that "food choices" are affected by Instagram as much as fad diets have influence. My reasoning here is that trends like "avocado toast" can live and die, but staple foods will always provide the affordable nutrition.

this is the most petty thing. I mean... wow. maybe care less about what other people are into? if the food you're eating doesn't taste great that's entirely on you, there are so many great food options today! I'm supposed to be upset people like to snap their meals and restaurants are working harder on presentation or mood lighting? oh no! the horrors.

archive.is linky for those who can't get past the paywall using all the usual tricks:

http://archive.is/cBsdO

[edit: oops, forgot the link]

Instagram is elevating food. It's an amazing discovery tool for finding new places to eat.

This entire article is predicated on the fact that no-one Instagrams boring ol' stew -- but this is not true at all.

Clickbait title. Useless article.

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