Taking Food Photos Makes Food Taste Better
Food tastes better after you have made a picture of it, a study in Journal of Consumer Marketing shows. Not only unhealthy foods taste better after photographing it. Even healthy foods taste better when captured by camera, but only when consumers think others like to eat healthy as well.
Take aways
- Taking a picture of unhealthy food makes it taste better.
- Even healthy food tastes better when captured by camera, but only when consumers think others are eating healthy as well.
- Marketers should encourage consumers to take pictures of their food, for example through the photo-sharing application “Instagram”.
- In case of healthy food, it is important that customers think that others are eating healthy as well. Apps that allow consumers to share pictures of their healthy food while also providing nutrition information and encouragement may be the perfect way to do so.
Study information
The question?
What is the effect of making pictures of your food, before consumption, on taste perception?
Who?
Study 1: 131 undergraduate students
Study 2: 101 undergraduate studentsWhere?
A large university located at the West coast of the USA
How?
Study 1: All students were asked to take a piece of food. Half of the students received unhealthy food and the other half received healthy food. Subsequently, within each food type, students were divided in two groups. Students in the picture group were instructed to take a picture of the food with their own phone and students in the control group did not take a picture. After eating the food, all students were asked to rate the taste of the food.
Study 2: In this study, all students were asked to take a piece of healthy food. However, before eating the food, differences in social norms were created by asking half of the students to read a news article stating a healthy food norm (“Americans eat 7% fewer calories compared to previous years”) and the other half read a news article stating an unhealthy food norm (“Americans eat 7% more calories compared to previous years”). Again, students in the picture group were instructed to take a picture of the food with their own phone and students in the control group did not take a picture. After eating the food, students were asked to rate the taste of the food.
Facts and findings
Study 1:
- In general, students did not like the taste of unhealthy food better than healthy food.
- Moreover, students who took a picture of their food did not like the taste of the food better than students who did not take a picture.
- However, the students who ate unhealthy food AND took a picture of the food, did think the food tasted better than those who did not take a picture (Figure 1).
Study 2:
- In general, students who were confronted with the healthy food norm did not like the taste of the healthy food better than students confronted with the unhealthy food norm.
- Moreover, students who took a picture of their food did not like the taste of the healthy food better than those who did not take a picture.
- However, students who were confronted with the healthy food norm AND who took a picture of the healthy food, thought it tasted better than those who did not take a picture of the food (Figure 2).
