The Concept of Foodstagramming

Background of the Study Food in art has been around since as early as the Ancient Egyptian era. During this time it was depicted in tombs in belief that it would become available in the afterlife. Later, in Roman times, the rich would display decorative mosaics, usually a glass bowl of fruit, to show off the food of the upper class. (Thompson, 2011) Aspects of realism, attention to composition and arrangement and a concern with allegorical meanings carried over in the 18thcentury, which saw more elaborate still life paintings. The food items were more carefully chosen for visual interest, like unusual shape or texture and grand banquets were depicted in their entirety. Jean-Simeon Chardin, a significant still life painter, produced many realist paintings between 1720-1770, depicting everyday objects with illusionist elements yet blended these into a realistic atmosphere. (Beaumont, 1982) ‘Food’ photographs started to appear in the early 19th century in the form of copied still lives, focussing on realism, composition and most importantly the effects of light, essential to producing any photograph. Photography’s first still life was a picture of a table set for a meal made by Nicephore Niepce in 1827. Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre produced a still life by 1837 while Talbot and Hippolyte Bayard produced theirs by 1840. Among these accomplishments, Henry Fox Talbot photographed an overflowing basket of fruit in 1842 and later produced a series of still life photographs, entitled ‘Pencils of Nature’ in 1846 featuring images of fruit baskets on patterned tablecloths. The compositions in the images are reminiscent of Flemish still life paintings from the 17th century. (Beaumont, 1928) In the latter half of the 20th century, with the growing popularity of colour photography, food photography jumped out in the field of art and into the fire of the commercial fields of advertising and cookbooks. Originally, Mcdonald’s fastfood was the first company to have national