Why my "Food Porn" is Important to my Health

There's a fantastically satirical video making the internet rounds as of late, and it's all about us and our food photos. Take a look:



The video highlights the fact that many people seem to be posting photos from fancy or difficult-to-get-into restaurants as a way to flaunt their superior tastes, their cultural understanding, their financial success, or their food knowledge. In fact, it outright makes fun of those obsessed with food photography. I myself have been known to stop my partner from digging into a dish at a restaurant while I line it up next to the drink and snap a quick photo with instagram. I need photos for this blog, after all.

NPR just highlighted the video in a short article titled "Are Your Friends Bombarding You With Food Porn?" that discusses the merits and potential drawbacks of our photo-obsessed food culture. So what's the verdict? Is this food photo mania just a way to throw your enlightened life into the face of your internet community, or is it a positive sign that we're all becoming more food conscious?

While I am definitely a part of this photo-taking, fancy-food eating community, I wasn't offended by the video. I can even laugh about it a little (aside from the reference to gluten free eating - see my soapbox side note at the end of the post). But I wanted to offer my own reasons for why I will continue to take photos of my food: it helped me heal after I was sick.

Here's the story.

A few years ago, I was sick. Not with a head cold, or a stomach bug, but with chronic pain and depression. For many years, I was told that nothing was wrong by my doctor, despite the intense cramping, throwing up, skin problems, bloating, and a host of other painful and unpleasant symptoms. When I finally put it all together and realized that I very likely have Celiac Disease and gluten was causing my body to attack itself, food suddenly became my enemy. I was afraid to eat anything, and the things I could eat seemed bland and unappetizing. I was hungry for a while, and still felt sick even when I wasn't eating gluten. You can read about my full experience here.

Then I discovered something amazing. Certain foods in their freshest state helped me feel better. Also, not only were whole, unprocessed foods helping me eat without feeling sick, I was starting to realize how much better this food tasted than the processed junk I was accustomed to eating. But all of this was new to me, and I quickly ran out of recipes and needed to find some inspiration. Food blogs started popping onto my radar, and looking through photos of food helped solidify the idea that not all food was my enemy. How could these vivid natural greens, reds, oranges, and yellows be bad for me? When I would get frustrated that I couldn't eat somewhere, or didn't know what to eat, all I had to do was envelop myself in an online community bursting with inspirational photos, stories, and flavor combinations.

So I started cooking, and taking photos of my food. I also realized that the more I talked about food and flavors, the more I could appreciate the food I was eating. The same went for photos - the more I was able to create aesthetically pleasing arrangements and color combinations, the better the food seemed to taste. I really started thinking about and experience my food with all my senses, and all of this made for a much better digestive experience. All of this photo taking was extended to restaurants, because eating out with Celiac Disease is a big freakin' deal.

So yes, I post photos of the food I eat at restaurants. I can't help it when 98 percent of eateries are off limits for health reasons, and I generally can only eat at places that I've done extensive research on. I can't help that food that is safe for me to eat is so incredibly rare that I get overly excited. And I can't help that the only places I can eat at tend to have fantastic, delicious, well presented food, because the chefs take a lot of pride in their ingredient sourcing and cooking prowess.

So that's my opinion on the matter. Photo-taking foodies come in all shapes and sizes, from all economic levels and eat under every health condition. I take photos because it helps me enjoy my food, an experience it took me a long time to cultivate.

Soapbox side note: I could definitely have done without the gluten free swipe in the video. Yes, some people have jumped on the fad bandwagon and ask for gluten free food even when they don't have outright intolerances. However, the more society equates gluten free with fad diet, the more unsafe it is for those of us with serious medical conditions to eat out safely. I need the people making my food to take me seriously, not shrug me off because they think I'm a hipster on a fad diet. End soapbox.

Some food photos from this blog (you knew this was coming!):

Fresh market ingredients from last summer

Lunch at Cotogna in San Francisco

Making marinara from scratch

Gluten free chocolate cake that you
won't be able to stop eating

Asparagus pasta sauce

Strawberry Pie - safe for me, delicious for all

Dinner at Frances in San Francisco