Don't tell me what you ate, tell me who you ate with

I eat out in restaurants and cafes a lot. You will find me pouring over a menu somewhere in the world at least two or three times a week. I am obsessed with food and have been from a very young age. I grew up under the foodie influence of my father, who is a chef and who is about to open his 9th restaurant at the thriving age of 73– but that’s a whole other story. I now live with my husband who is a restaurant manager and is possibly even more obsessed with food than I am.

My obsession with food is not one of gluttony, sure it tastes good for a moment, but it’s more about the way it makes me feel. I’m addicted to the feeling of food whether it’s pleasure, happiness or love. Food to me is a celebration with family, it’s a date with my love where we can block the rest of the world out and focus on us and its’ a lesson that can be learnt about the person who is cooking it.

Me, pictured with a serve of Avocado Toast from my local cafe in Costa Rica. At the time I was waiting for the internet to be installed at my new apartment. I was alone with my laptop and thought that this dish was pretty because it was so vibrantly green.

It’s no secret that food photos do well on Instagram. If you can capture the exact moment the maple syrup drips down sexily on a pancake then you’re in for at least a few ‘likes’ and comments of ‘yummm’, but I find that whenever I take a photograph of food I am also left feeling underwhelmed. In that frozen moment of time its just stuff on a plate. Maybe it’s pretty stuff but it’s just stuff. But today I’ve realised why.

The food that sits on the table in front of me is more than just a dish. it’s a dish that is shared with me and whoever I am with. It’s delicately devoured during conversation, each spoonful representing a different topic. A mouthful of laughter, a chew of a problem and a drip of a dream. Pull it back further and that dish that sits in front of me came from a kitchen, where a chef carefully put together a series of elements to create a flavour that they thought would be comforting. Perhaps that dish is even older than that moment, perhaps it was carried down from generation, to generation and that chef is reminded of family every time it’s ordered.

I love food and I always will. It plays a huge role in my life, but I’m done taking photos of food. I am now going to take photos in which food is just a moment in time when I was able to gather with someone and experience something real. A honest human connection, experienced on all levels of the senses- taste, sight, sound, smell and touch.

So, don’t tell me about WHAT you ate, tell me who you are it with, that’s the photo I want to see.