Food Photography 2019: We love to snap what we eat!

New year, new trends: no matter if fashion, marketing, or nutrition, everything is bound to never-ending, pacing change. The cuisine is way older than the society-affecting habits fashion or marketing by far. Despite it’s not outdated and brings forth a colorful bokeh of fancy words like Healthy Hedonism, Ugly food or Transparency in every new year’s trend reports and food guides. A simple question: are these true innovations to the food culture or just old wine in new bottles? And how are these trends affecting the handling of food in stock photography?

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© Carl Smith/fStop/Westend61

The perfect couple: Transparency meets Hidden Vegetables

Of the past century, nutrition has become a lifestyle indicator. You don’t have to be a prophet to tell that 2019 steps in the footprints of its predecessors by further implementing principles into the green awareness and by that continuously forming food culture. In a time where science and nutrition are used in the same sentence more and more often the consumer urges for more transparency in the food industry. Nobody wants to get their info from a shelf but long time before they enter a supermarket – made easily accessible by the producer (short marketing excursion: that calls for brand engagement, right?) The consumer wants to be able to trust the producer because health and sustainability are the main ingredients for the happiness of a demanding foodie.

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With all that transparency talk let’s hide some stuff: hidden vegetables is a concept that will favor the likes of parents and fitness-aficionados. It’s based on reducing carbs while increasing the number of vegetables in served dishes: our inner child (remember the times we were all longing for cheeseburgers and liters of ketchup) bursts into a screaming fit. Soon, vegetable-based pizza dough and zucchini muffins will pop up on our meal plans. Usually, children are smart but let’s see if they can trick their way out of this one.

On the rise: Ugly Food and Healthy Hedonism

An increase in our awareness for sustainability doesn’t stop in front of the kitchen door, and we started banning convenience food and jet-lang-avocados from our tables. In 2019 sustainability automatically leads us to ugly food which does not sound like a match in the first place. Food and disgust in one sentence are never sexy, but here we are not talking about polarizing bug-snacks but about those apples and potatoes that didn’t win the genetic lottery. What has always been standard for farmers and on our domestic markets slowly finds its way into the mainstream. As producers used to stay well clear of unsexy leeks, sorting them out before they could ever get into the supermarket, we might know also face less instagrammable fruits and vegetables on the shelves. They are as healthy as it gets. Reducing food waste is an essential topic for the planet. So just get on board with those crooked carrots.

royalty-free images food culture
© Martin Barraud/caiaimage/Westend61

Nutrition has been dancing its tango asceticism in recent years. As long as it is healthy, healthy, and healthy, we didn’t really care about taste or the slightest bit of pleasure. Healthy food and consumption – a thorn in the side of many health hipsters. Appearance hedonists: we make nutritions sexy again. Another lifestyle indicator: healthy hedonism refers to many nutrition concepts to create a perfect symbiosis from pleasure and a healthy diet. Slow Food, nutrition science, and flexitarianism are thrown into one pot: an ideal mixture for a food trend.

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© Sandra Roesch/Westend61

The year 2019: the Jackfruit comes out big

Well, they agree on some things: the use of nutrition and herbs from Asai and Oceania as well as tropical fruits like the dragon fruit, guava, and the passion fruit, conquering our plates and glasses. Sri Lankan and Burmese cuisine are on the rise: the Asian-Indian food boom further exists and develops. Same goes for the plant-based alternatives. We’ll continue to see more and more meat substitutes like the pulled-beef alternative jackfruit, in the nearer future.

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© Maskot/Westend61

Food photography generates the worlds biggest menu

Food photography will always focus on the art of displaying by popular demand. The „food“-hashtag was used over 185 million times on Instagram – do we need to say more. But it’s not about aesthetics only. Healthy pleasure and the raising awareness of how to properly handle our resources became two crucial cornerstones of our diet, and now sustainability and naturalness make their way into food photography.

While you cannot communicate these values with perfectly staged pasta (with the use of hairspray maybe) but in implementing more lifestyle and documentary motifs. We will see more images of people gathered around a filled table embracing the foodie-lifestyle. We travel to the origins of en vogue ingredients and to those where we actually enjoy them. We could say the food photography widens its horizon and moves a little away from the table out into the world.

Sebastian Bentzin

For over ten years Sebastian works in the digital media field. The Hamburg-based social media manager combines his professional background with his interest in photography contributing to the Westend61 outlets.