Wednesday 18 June 2014

Food or Selfie - Which One Will it Be?

Sitting in my favourite coffee shop once again, thinking, something I do a lot of these days.  Been reading a couple of books lately about the wonders of the human brain and how it functions and the fight between proponents of theism and atheism.  Am I going to discuss the lofty heights both these  subjects reach?  No, of course not.  I wouldn't be able to give them justice.  Besides, I want to talk about something much more important - taking photos of food you're about to eat. Yes, folks, this phenomenon has been with us for sometime, but the ubiquitous use of mobile phones has increased the practice exponentially. 

Facebook is full of foodie pics. Why? Is it to torture your poor student friends who are in their dorm eating cornflakes with no milk or Maggie instant noodles with no flavouring? Or, maybe the person you are dining with is so darn boring, taking photos of food is a form of cerebral relief. 

Could you imagine going to see your friends for real and showing them a picture of what you had for breakfast.  They would give you a queer look and think, “Get a life,” but somehow posting it on Facebook etc. transforms you into an interesting informed foodie. 

I can almost understand it, if the dish was exquisitely presented and made from unusual exotic ingredients, but photography of a plate of fish and chips or Nasi Campur -  Really! 

Woe betide  any one eating before the unforgettable snaps      (in this case an oxymoron)  have all been taken, sacrosanct. 

Maybe some are documenting it in case it's their last meal, like a condemned prisoner awaiting their execution, so all the world can goggle over what they have consumed before they depart to the afterlife. (Makes me think, what is a perfect last meal? Is it better to be light - toast and marmalade or go out with a bang, a full blown 3 courser with all the bells and whistles - I transgress.)
Needless to say 99.9999..... % survive to eat another day.

Oh, the memories of using film for photography.  No indiscriminate shots of food those days.  It would have to be the level of a wedding banquet or a 21st birthday to justify the expense.

Maybe I'm being a little too harsh here. The average punter doesn't give it a lot of thought.  As long as you have a constant stream of info to amuse your friends ( or not ) on Facebook, that's all that matters.  

After reading most of the banality that passes for comment on social media, the occasional picture of food is fairly harmless and of course much, much better than that narcissistic selfie!    

Exquisite example of a bowl of light fluffy opaque over processed white rice. 
  

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