The psychology of food pictures

Now, I'm not knocking or judging people who like to share photos of everything they ingest. Posting food photos is your legal right as a citizen of Facebook, seeing as the Declaration of Internetdependence grants us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of indefinite "likes." So if you want to show everyone what you're eating, go right ahead. But I have to admit that I don't quite understand the motivation. When we share photos of our meals, is it in memorium of the food? Is it due to the desire for a communal meal with all of our friends and followers? Is it to make others jealous and/or hungry? Is it to offer people ideas for what they, too, can consume? I have posted a picture of a bottle of mead, and it was because I know a lot of people who have never heard of mead and I want to spread the word (or image) so they can experience its incredible majestic deliciousness themselves. I haven't grasped the overall reasons behind this practice, though.

Also, maybe taking pictures of what we're eating is sort of like a Level 2 Selfie. A selfie is "This is my face," while a food pic is "...And this is what goes INTO my face!" It's like a selfie, but more in depth.

Consider the selfie

A lot of people critique the trend (or, rather, abundance) of selfies. I understand that it seems narcissistic, but I don't think that's the root of the criticism. After all, plenty of high art is basically naval gazing, but with a veil of sophistication that makes people afraid to call it that, lest anyone think they don't "get it." Selfies are mocked because the self focus is so honest. Egocentrism is forgivable as long as you make some attempt at irony or try to be subtle. But essentially, that's like taking a selfie while wearing a mask.

If you think about it, all good art contains the artist. It may not be entirely a self portrait, but you can see its creator within it. Taking photos of other people or doing projects that focus on them is honorable and interesting. All the same, it's not really accurate to claim that it's separate from its maker, or that the artist is not at least partly seeking to leave their own mark in addition to publicizing their theme. In the end, every person who sings or writes or films or plays or draws anything is joining hands with all the other creators and their subjects in calling out into the distance, "We are here. Don't forget us."

And it's okay. We can acknowledge that.