Though some may protest that the Lion City is small and unexciting, Singapore’s food scene is a source of national pride for all but the most jaded local. Diners are hardly short on options, whether or not your preferred venue is your favourite heartland coffeeshop or the latest upmarket brunch joint.
Be it eggs benedict or bak chor mee, many of us feel a justified satisfaction in sitting down to a good meal. Often, we are equally as proud to document these gastronomic moments.
A quick swipe through social media gets you with an abundance of delectable dining snapshots, which (as anyone trying to eat clean knows) can be more than detrimental to the waistline.
Certainly, one can hardly have mealtimes out without spotting fellow diners Instagramming their food. As of April 2017, the number of Instagram users in Singapore reached a high of 1.9 million, so this comes as no surprise. Entire blogs and Instagram accounts are wholly dedicated to food photography, with some pros making the special effort to take their photos with a DSLR before publishing them for the envy and enjoyment of their famished followers.
Behind the lens, not all is as rosy as a subtly-placed Instagram filter would have you believe. Perhaps you’ve been there before, watching your soup of the day cool on the table as your overzealous dining companions snap photos over your head.
Most of us may have heard the uttered exhortation, “Don’t eat yet! I want to take a photo!” and quietly resigned ourselves to lukewarm brioche as we wait for our friends to finish gleefully uploading #foodporn to Snapchat.
Maybe others have even been behind the lens (or screen) themselves, beaming ingratiatingly at barely tolerant, hungry friends while frantically picking the best angle to photograph that avocado salmon sandwich.
I can clearly recall the dining experience that, even now, makes me grit my teeth. Having been served a piping hot flat white, my technologically savvy dining companion stopped me as the cup was halfway to my lips.
“Wait, wait, I want to Instagram the latte art!”
I silently promised myself never to eat with her again.
Social media is an inevitable dimension of personal and professional life, and while it may be a step too far to completely ban the smartphone from the dining table, allow us to humbly propose a simple suggestion to ensure that the peace is kept at mealtimes.
If you want to Instagram it, order your own. Whether it’s a cappuccino, a cutely-decorated muffin or a platter of hawker favourites, avoid keeping your fellow foodies from tucking in by simply getting your own portion to photograph. If it’s good enough for the ‘gram, chances are it’s going to be good enough for your palate, with the added perk of keeping your friends as sweet as their desserts.
If that approach seems merciless (especially on your wallet), the next best thing you could do is simply ask before you snap. Food photos are a perk, and not a right, especially if the dish isn’t yours.
Numerous articles cite new rules of etiquette for so-called modern dating in the smartphone era. In the realm of modern dining – where our devices are as much present as our dinner guests – it might benefit us to have similar guidelines of behaviour.