‘Food Porn’, also known as Food Photography or in fancy terms ‘gastronomic voyeurism’, is the latest trend in hospitality. Food Porn is close up, high quality images of food in advertisements, uploaded on social media accounts or posted on the hottest food blogs.

Since the rise of smart phones and their wiz bang cameras, people have begun to get a whole lot more creative and are now taking unique pictures of their food to share with all to see. At first it was seen to be a little bizarre, but now it’s a part of everyday life - some would go so far as to say it’s been normalised.

It’s radicalised simple food images and  transformed them into ‘sexy’ images of food … who could blame them, food is sexy. It seemed natural then that food bloggers would rise from the framework - similar to those seen here. These bloggers and professional photographers have evolved the trend to the point that it’s now something desirable by all.

The question that follows is, where are such sensual mouth-watering photos published? From fabulously designed food blogs to ever so popular social media accounts, Food Blogger’s publish finger licking photos to draw people in, glamourise food and, most importantly, make businesses money!  This lustrous trend has connected the lone diner, and the business, with thousands. In 2011, a stunning 19% of people uploaded photos of food at least once a month. By end of 2013, there were 24 million Instagram posts with the hash tag #foodporn … and that’s in Australia alone!  

Did you know that Food Porn is a lot more than a textbook picture of a meal … that’s right, it’s not only to show off the patron’s photography skills, but it delves into something a little more serious. Many factors impact and influence different eating patterns, particularly external cues like images of food and food blogs. Some pictures can regularly activate our desire to eat, enforcing the shift from eating as a dietary requirement to eating for pleasure. This is how we separate the joe-bloggers from the Food Porn bloggers.

How does Food Porn relate to takeaway businesses? Cafes, restaurants and takeaway shops choose to create aesthetically pleasing food which draws in the bloggers. Once the food photographers get a great snap of a delicious dish and post it on their blog … the masses are quick to follow. As for those businesses who are serving up quick, hot pizzas it may be somewhat difficult to produce a ‘pretty’ pizza so instead, spend that little bit more and get a professional photographer to take photos of your products. It will draw in even more online customers and glamourise all types of food.

How to embrace the Food Porn trend:
- Create a product that looks appealing and pretty
- Put in the extra effort … a garnish can, and will, go a long way to improving the ‘sexy’ of a dish
- Open up social media accounts for your business & utilise those accounts as FREE advertising!
- Organise professional photography for your products … smartphones are great, but rarely snap the greatest pic