TO EACH SOCIAL MEDIA, ITS DISH

LONDON -   It’s not correct to think that Social Networks are all the same. Because Social Media are just instruments with people behind them. And, we know, each person thinks and behaves differently. But there’s a new culture phenomenon that is joining all along the same way: Foodstagram. It’s the photo sharing on food & beverage on Social Medias, blogs, websites, like a large kitchen table where people sit from the Internetsphera. People with their own phones together with a fork, spoon, knife or glass in front of the dishes, ready to take a picture about the amazing pasta alla Bolognese, chocolate cake, salmon and carrots or just a simple Starbucks coffee.

That’s the new idea about Foodstagram. A simple phenomenon? I don’t know… Instagram reported that users uploaded around 200 photos per second from 10am to 2pm  during the last Thanksgiving Day, with around 10 million images bearing some kind of food tag; at least once a month, 52% of mobile users take photos with their phones and 19% upload their photos on the web. The question is: Why do people share food pictures? First of all, because they have a food diary on their own timeline and this way they continue their own Foodstagram activity, it started for pleasure and now it became a periodic appointment. Secondly for documenting self-creation, on special days or special events, commenting or critiquing a brand, food type or a restaurant, or because a plate is an amazing and artistic creation, that’s another motivation.

“The photograph itself, even an artily manipulated one, has become so cheap and ubiquitous that it’s no longer of much value. But the experience of sharing it is, and that’s what Facebook is in the business of encouraging us to do,” wrote The New York Times art critic Karen Rosenberg. “It’s no coincidence that still life of  food are among the most-shared photos on Instagram, along with babies, puppies and sunsets.”

Don’t forget another question: People have always had a strong relationship with food. “Tell me what you eat,” said Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, the 19th-century French lawyer, politician and gastronome, “and I will tell you what you are”. Tell me, or if you wish, send me any pictures about your dishes via email, Social Medias or your website. The meal is ready! (A.A.)