As I write this I am sitting at Jenky’s Café, a popular breakfast spot in Santa Monica. Waiters are scurrying across the tile floor, delivering heaping plates of pancakes and steaming cups of coffee to salivating breakfast-goers. I watch as a server places a loaded plate of poached eggs, waffles drizzled in syrup, and two slabs of bacon in front of a smiling woman. And that’s when it happens: the woman grabs her iPhone in place of a fork and knife and begins to snap pictures of her meal.

It is a given that this picture will end up on Instagram, most likely with a caption that reads “#foodporn #jenkys #breakfast,” along with a light filter and white frame around the photo. In the current age of Instagram, we can’t escape scenarios like this one. Instagramming pictures of meals has become an art, albeit one that causes our food to get cold in the process.

You may be wondering why on Earth someone would choose to document every meal when most of us would rather not admit to consuming  those syrup-laden waffles. The main motivation behind these incidences of “foodstagram” seems to be the photo opportunities that food provides. Any avid Instagrammer knows the importance of maintaining an active photo stream, and, aside from flowers and puppies, food can serve as the perfect medium for constant photography. After all, your hair may not always be selfie-ready, but a Starbuck’s latte is unfalteringly ready for the limelight.

An exploration of the “#foodstagram” hashtag on Instagram reveals 1,253,139 photos, aka over one million incidences of food documentation. In addition, the simpler “#food” hashtag has over four million pictures. This definitely says something about our culture and the ongoing trend of overconsumption. However, it also reveals new platforms of communication and the publicity benefits of social media. For example, the majority of Foodstagrammers tag their location, promoting the restaurant that provided them with the material for their newest pic. I am the first to admit that I ran to the new Sliver Pizzeria after seeing multiple images of cheesy pizza covered in #mushrooms #artichokes and #potatoes, not to mention Instagramming  a picture of my own slice shortly thereafter.

On a larger scale, the trending “food truck” hashtag has allowed waves of people in both San Francisco and New York City to follow the location of their favorite food trucks through Instagram. Foodstagrammers provide restaurants with free publicity, showing off the menu’s best items without the need for a professional photographer or an ad in The Daily Cal. Even chefs have caught on to the trend, with multiple well-known foodies creating their own Instagram accounts to share pictures of their creations. British chef and media personality Jamie Oliver (@jamieoliver) provides his  followers with high-quality photographs of both food and culture, while chef Matthew Jennings (@matthewjennings) is known for uploading 800+ pictures of his own recipes. However, these are the real deal Foodstagrammers – who needs those when you can follow Instagram-nobodies who tag their own home as a restaurant location?

If you are intrigued by this trend and would like to start Instagramming your meals as well, here are a few pointers to perfect your Foodstagram:

First and foremost, lighting matters. Most restaurants are dark; therefore, if you are truly committed to capturing a flawless image, you must flip on that flash like nobody’s watching (except for the fact that the entire restaurant is watching – and probably mocking – you). The next step is applying a filter: this really makes a difference in the appearance of your plate, seeing as nobody wants to eat sepia-colored eggs or Hefe-enhanced paninis. Your safest bet is to keep it looking real, best accomplished with the Hudson or X-Pro II filter. When crafting a caption, be sure to add the appropriate hashtags that will file your picture away with the masses of other foodie shots. Classic examples are #foodstagram, #foodporn, #instafood, #foodforfoodies, and, my favorite, #foodgasm. And don’t be afraid to make individual tags based on the food being consumed – you’d be surprised how trending #nutella is (1,475,875 photos, to be exact). Lastly, before uploading your delectable photo into the realm of cyberspace, be sure to tag the location. As stated before, this can make a big impact on a restaurant’s publicity – if you’re going to exploit their dishes, you might as well give them some credit.

Rather than moan about the gluttonous consumption habits of our culture and reprimand Foodstagrammers for exploiting every detail of their personal lives, enjoy the food porn. Your waistline may not be able to afford the triple cheeseburger from In-N-Out that just popped up on your newsfeed, but you can salivate digitally all you want, and there’s no shame in that.

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