Indian diners snap up food porn
For one traumatic evening dining out a month, Harsh Jhaveri is cruelly separated from his beloved smartphone. "My cousins take my phone away," he says. Such extreme measures are necessary — the minute his meal arrives, Jhaveri whips out his phone, arranges the kofta and naan at a flattering angle and clicks with a preoccupied expression. It's only when the photos have been posted on Instagram that his companions are allowed to dig into the rapidly cooling food.
Jhaveri's friends are not the only ones now accustomed to this aim-khatak-and-only-then-eat approach to meals. For foodstagramming has arrived in India. And just like there are Los Angelinos and Londoners out there who document every taco or torte set before them, there are now Bengaluruites and Punekars equally determined to record their own gulab jamun moments.
Some of these are acknowledged foodies with a legion of followers, other are regular people who just want to pop a yummy visual onto their Facebook page. "If you look at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, apart from the usual suspects who always post selfies, you will find an incredible amount of food photography," says Prashant Kalra, who conducts food tours in Delhi and recently started the DFT Food Porn Association, a Facebook group whose 870 members share "sinful food pictures" with each other—everything from spectacular lemon meringue cakes to fluffy dhoklas. He says, "Food posts are a great way to tell people a little about yourself. The kind of food you eat tells a story about who you are as a person. Someone who only posts pictures of high-end food might be considered pretentious. Someone who mixes things up a bit is a true foodie with a broad-minded approach to food. Someone who only posts pictures of chola bhatura and chaat might be considered to have a one-track mind. For me personally, if it looks yummy, click it!"
