Be Careful! Upload Food Photos in Instagram

An expert opinion mentions food photos can be racist

Pho noodles, some kind of Vietnam noodles - Image credit Asti Soekirno

Food or culinary can be racists? You will be surprised with the food expert opinion about the photos often uploaded on Instagram site, but things like this are often made by many friends in social media.

You can hear opinions by Celeste Noché from Portland, United States of America, a professional food photographer, said in an interview on the website Quartz, February 24, that there is a wrong assumption occurs generally from social media users.

"When people do not take the time to educate themselves about the culture associated with a food, then they end up in perpetuating cultural stereotypes and misconceptions."

Furthermore, she still adds some certain things.

"We never got out of the idea of ​​Western culture is the status quo, so that others regarded as 'other.'"

Noché said that people replace foods according to how to decorate them are not normal.

"Because they do not understand or have not experienced for themselves how these foods can be there."

Indeed, there are habits of users on social media sites to upload a photo without looking at the background of the origin of the food, as it says in the Philippines short ribs recipe from Andrew Zimmern, for example, include the chopsticks nearby.

Noché warned it was related to the need for research about food and its origin.

"At first glance this looks do not matter, except for the Philippines which traditionally eat short ribs with a spoon and fork. Or they just use a hand. So it shows he is wrong to generalize all Asians."

Chopsticks are placed on the edges of the bowl or stand vertically in a bowl of rice is also an example of common foods photographic errors.

According to her, this can be rough and is a symbol of death in Asian cultures. Many things happen when there is a misunderstanding, understand the culture from where the food is coming.

In fact ever happened, famous magazines such as Bon Appetit also been doing a similar mistake, featuring whites chéf origin of Philadelphia shows how to eat "pho" which he described as a 'food trend.'

Spontaneous reaction and protests came from a Vietnam chéf. Bon Appetit treats pho like food trends and ignore the long history of pho cultural in Vietnam.

"Those who write, organize, and photographing the food sometimes underestimate the authority given to foods that do not actually belong to them."

And, Noché suggested that amateur photographer took the time to learn about the food that will be photographed.

"If something does not seem familiar to you, talk to the people who came from that culture to learn more about the food in question."

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Source: L Mustinda - detikFood, Quartz
Image: Asti Soekirno