Going out for a meal is something of a luxury in today’s society. When once couples managed to slip out for a romantic meal once a week on average, restricted budgets and pay freezes has seen this little luxury drop to only once a month – and even that usually means that something else must be sacrificed from the grocery shop.
This is why it is so important to make the most out of times spent with loved ones, whether this is at a café around the corner or in an expensive eatery in the city. For a few hours, phones should be ignored and social media put to one side to focus on the people you are there to see.
Unfortunately, not everyone adheres to this rule and we must all have been in the situation where a diner, either at your table or a neighbouring one, has whipped out their smartphone to snap a few pictures. Not of the person they are with, or even of the restaurant interior, but of their meal.
Yes, thanks to the rise of social networking and the creation of apps such as vintage photography tool Instagram more and more people are now choosing to document their evenings out with a picture of their steak or pasta dish, usually with captions designed to invoke jealousy upon their followers and friends. While many who choose to indulge in this habit attract the withering glares of their fellow diners, it seems that these futuristic foodies are immune to the fact that they are essentially ruining the atmosphere for those around them.
Thankfully, owners of restaurants and the chefs that prepare the food themselves are beginning to cotton on to the fact that this craze is becoming something of a public nuisance, with the result that many are simply banning food photography on their premises altogether.
Spokesman for Bouley Restaurant in New York, Steven Hall, believes that diners who snap pictures of their food show a complete disregard for others attempting to enjoy their meal.
He said; “It’s reached epic proportions. Everybody wants to get their shot – they do not care how it affects people around them.”
Whilst the habit of taking pictures of an evening meal seems much more common in the States than the UK, there are fears that the craze will soon cross the pond in earnest. Already diners can be seen craftily papping their meal using an iPhone in the majority of restaurants in city centres, with even high class establishments forced to endure the flash bulbs of amateur photographers.
Owner and head chef of Bouley Restaurant, David Bouley, believes that he has come up with the ideal solution to counter the irritation of fellow diners in this situation whilst also allowing snap happy customers to share their meal with all and sundry. Rather than banning photography altogether, he simply invites anyone wishing to capture their dish on camera into the kitchen instead.
He says; “We will say, ‘That shot will look so much better on the marble table in our kitchen.’
“It’s like, here’s the sauce, here’s the plate – snap it.
“We make it like an adventure for them instead of telling them no.”
Yet some restaurants have become so tired of seeing their meals spread across sites such as Facebook and Flickr that photography has been banned altogether, such as Momofuku Ko in New York. Others, such as Seiobo in Melbourne and Shoto in Toronto, do not disallow customers from taking photos but insist that flashes must be turned off to keep the annoyance of other diners to a minimum.
Do you tend to document your meals out, or do you prefer to enjoy the food in the moment? Would the thought of many people taking pictures of their meals, with or without the flash enabled, dissuade you from visiting even your favourite restaurant, or would you simply try to ignore it?
