Food brings people together.
In some cultures, eating food is meant to be done together. Meals are a social event meant to connect people and give them something that they have in common. Fine cuisine and group lunches or dinners have been around since the concept of "family" or "friends" were born. Everyone needs to eat, everyone loves to enjoy food, so why not let food bring us together.
Nowadays food has reached the most insane heights of aesthetic design. Food has, in some cases, reached the same level or intention as art. Everyone's heard of the gorgeous poke bowl or smoothie bowl trend. Black Tap in New York City has skyscraper-sized milkshakes that you have to have been living under a rock to miss. Raindrop cakes and rainbow bagels and flower gelato all cause paroxysms of glee whether they're being looked at on a phone screen or in the flesh.
Even by way of technology, food has the power to draw groups of people together who all have a love of particular aesthetics and tastes. That's one of he reasons Instagram is so popular. It's not just for selfies anymore. There are thousands of Instagram accounts with millions of followers dedicated solely to noms. It's gotten to the point where some accounts only have pictures of food from certain states or countries, only ice cream, only (cup)cakes, only vegan or vegetarian options. And which average Instagrammer (me included) doesn't love to take a snap of something that looks seriously yummy?
Taking pictures of food does provide relational commonality in some way, that is beyond argument. But something to realize in this age of social media is that even if there are no pictures.....it still happened. "Pics or it didn't happen" is a playfully common thing to tell someone if you want evidence that someone actually went out with that person or actually ate that awesome food. Even so, no matter how photogenic your food is, guess what? If you didn't snap a pic, you still ate the food, you still talked and bonded with your friends, you still made memories.
Maybe that's the most important part of eating food, the most important experience eating food provides us: making memories - even with or without people. We remember feelings, crazy tastes, and laughter. When all five of your senses are involved, your memory of something good will be that much sharper. Many countries in Europe like Italy and Greece and France have this concept down. Because of this, the communities in those countries are that much tighter.
So next time you go out to eat, really try to experience the outing. Taking pictures of your food can definitely be cool, but that doesn't have to be the only proof that you were in the moment. That you were present. Let yourself fully absorb your time with your friends or yourself. Afterwards you'll know for sure it still happened, whether or not you took pictures.
