Taking photos of your food

Caporegime
Joined
20 Oct 2004
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....
I agree to a point but those tracking apps have replaced common sense, using your brain and listening to your body. It’s usually pretty obvious if you’re not getting enough exercise or aren’t sleeping properly, but people aren’t willing to self assess have to offload everything to an app. And there’s a big question mark over what they actually do with the info they’re given.

Back on topic, eating and drinking is one of the few things where doing it mindfully, and sharing the experience and memories with the people your with, massively enhances it. Constantly whipping your phone out distracts from that and spoils it for me.

I stopped using Untappd to track beers I liked for that reason, it constantly took me out of the moment I was enjoying with friends.

These days if we go out for a special meal and there’s something I want to remember, I ask for a copy of the menu to take home. Most places are usually happy to oblige and it’s a miles better souvenir than a **** iPhone picture.

I agree, I take photos of my food normally if I'm alone and want to send it to someone for nostigla reasons or so we could go there together at somepoint.

The first point, I both agree and disagree. You can't always apply common sense to count calories, or to know whats causing you to have sleep issues (you might not even know?). Why not use technology to our advantage, if we can utilise it properly? I agree with the pointless need to count and use figures, for no reason though. Dumb. It's about using this information correctly and not letting it get in the way YOUR normality. I've counted calories numerous times before, and sucesfully lost weight very easily without it hugely affecting my lifestyle.
 
Soldato
Joined
24 Sep 2015
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3,657
My partner and I will occasionally take photos of our food when eating at fine dining restaurants.

I don't particular care if the chef or other diners have a problem with that, if we're paying for the food then if I want to take a photo of it it's my business and my business alone. Anyone objecting is more than welcome to keep their opinion to themselves.
 
Soldato
Joined
2 Feb 2011
Posts
13,514
It can also be useful for finding new places to eat. I follow several food bloggers on Instagram and have discovered many places through them. Scran for example, which I now dine at regularly.
 
Soldato
Joined
7 Nov 2009
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19,798
Location
Glasgow
I'm really working on my presentation of plates at the minute, so taking a photograph to reference back to is good for me. I only do it if the plate is exceptional or something quite different. And rarely will I share it with the public domain. What irks me more is people constantly on their phone at the dinner table. Take your phone out your pocket, take a photo and put it back. Do not leave it on the dining table! Argh.
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Sep 2013
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2,732
Location
South Yorkshire
I take pictures of my food, very rarely post them on social media, mainly to use when I review on Trip Advisor but also to show someone if they ask if it was nice. If people don't like it then that's fine but it doesn't affect their meal.
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Apr 2011
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14,761
Location
Barnet, London
How many hours did I sleep last night?
What did I eat?
How many calories have I consumed?
Have I met my macros?
Was that beer a 3.5 or a 3.75?
How many steps have I done?

Personally I would say almost all of that is quite important information to know, to hopefully lead to a healthier lifestyle. I wish more people knew how many calories they've eaten each day for example.
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Sep 2013
Posts
12,300
If you're in a 'fancy' restaurant, the people taking pictures are clearly the upwardly mobile peasants who have never seen quality food before.
Speak to the maître d' and have them removed... and then never return to such a low class establishment.

Those filling out spreadsheets about calories and steps and macros and hours slept are clearly junior employees who do not have enough work to keep them busy.
Speak to one of your PAs and have their manager assign them additional responsibilities.

I go to restaurants to eat food, not to snap photos like some tourist.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Jul 2005
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17,995
Location
Brighton
And here we have a classic case of plating for the Instagram generation (aka stack a load of stuff):

https://twitter.com/richardvines/status/1219926607252656128?s=21

How are you supposed to eat that?


You pick up the little thing on top, the only bit that's edible and bite into it. However that is stupid plating, you're wasting half a cauliflower and it doesn't even look good. You can't even use it after for anything else in case of cross-contamination. Bad for the environment and bad for your GP, although I guess that's irrelevant when it comes to high-end places.

I have no issue with people taking pictures of food, presentation is one of the things we think about when coming up with dishes so it's great when it's appreciated. But there is a trend of plating things ridiculously or making dishes that are totally OTT purely for pictures (like a Bloody Mary with a whole roast chicken, for example).
 
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