I have always photographed some of my meals while traveling. I like to cook and it helps me remember what I ate. My mother was very happy when I gave her a calendar with photos of food and open-air markets from a recent trip. Most of my friends who like to cook take photos of interesting meals.
I think the evidence of this thread is that a certain number of non-Asian people take photos of their food. It may have a cultural element related either to food or to photography, but it’s hardly uncommon.
I spoke with some exchange students from Japan about it when I noticed the same- I was told that presentation and artistry thereof is considered as, if not more, important than flavor.
HazelNutCoffee – I lived in Seoul for five years. I’m guessing I’m a bit older than you are, and that it is a generational thing. I last lived in Seoul in 1998-2001. At that time, the people I knew weren’t taking pictures of their food, and I never saw anyone doing it in the hot, trendy restaurants in Kangnam.
I should note that I never owned a camera until I got married, and I could go through life quite happily never photographing anything. I always thought it was sad that other parents were watching their kids’s school programs, etc., through a video viewfinder rather than experiencing them while they were actually taking place. Maybe it is a result of our TV culture that folks would rather record something than actually see it happen.
That said, I like watching the videos that we took of our kids while they were growing up, and I enjoy the photos I’ve taken, also. I like digital photography much more than film, as I find that the photos are more accessible. I think many folks took tons of photos in the old days and put hem in albums or boxes and never looked at them again, which is really a waste.
Part of my OP asks about what else a Japanese traveler will typically document. Do folks take extensive pictures of their hotel rooms and other aspects of travel that non-Japanese travelers might find mundane?
Not as far as I know. Food is a huge part of the travel experience. Hotels, not so much. Japanese travellers might be very demanding about their accommodations but it’s not going to be the highlight of their trip. This and hotel rooms don’t make for good photographs the way food does.
I have almost the same experience, except for the parts involving kids (which we haven’t yet). I kind of regret not having been interested in cameras in my early life, as there were lots of great experiences and people. I miss having a record of my military years especially. But, photography was just a pain in the butt, and expensive as a sin. Then, what you do with the photos? Can you part with the bad photos, or do you hold on to them because it’s better than nothing? I finally got my first digital before getting married, but only used it for special projects for the most part. At that time, there was still no real way print the photos except on crappy, early-ish inkjets. There was no way to catalogue them easily. Photoshop was much too expensive. Also, it was serial, and so needed Epson software, and eventually a serial-to-USB adapter and paid, third-party software just to get the photos off. Still, by that time I’d gotten married, which meant (1) always been late to social functions that included her, and (2) taking lots of photos. As soon as I saw the iPhoto demo several years ago, though, I looked up compatabilities and bought a new, USB, brand name digital camera in very short order. It’s just so easy now, including backing up, cropping and other editing, organization, printing, that there’s no excuse not to try to capture shots. In fact, I’ve been taking an interest in trying to develop my craft, but I’ve yet to justify the thousands of dollars for a top of the line DSLR (no, the camera does not a photographer make, I know). If we were still in the film days, I’d be sour about the whole affair.
Funny thing is, I also have never been the kind of guy who liked taking photos, but food is the one subject that I’ve found is kind of fun.
I guess you’re acknowledging that this seems a bit contradictory. The first sentence makes it sound like you think the practice is pretty vapid and counterproductive, but then in the very next you say that on the occasions when you did record something, it was worthwhile. I don’t really see how snapping a photo of a meal before eating it prevents someone from eventually experiencing the food too, in addition to having documented it. I hope you don’t feel that taking those videos of your kids made you feel like you didn’t actually see it happen.
I agree with what jovan has been saying, especially the part about how the food can in fact often make a better photo subject than various buildings and other tourist attractions. I tend to have very few of those because every time I’m about to take a photo of some building, I remember that it would take me 5 seconds to find a much better photo of it on the net. The only interesting landmark pics actually tend to be the ones where it came out really crappy because the fog was so dense or something. That way I can at least say, hey look how bad the fog in Shanghai was that day, you can barely make out the Bund riverfront through all of it.
I work in a nice-ish restaurant, and it’s pretty common for Plain Janes take pictures of their food with their cell phones. No idea what they’re doing with it, but it always strikes me as a bit odd. It’s just fish, ladies.
arseNal – You are correct in that I’m of two minds about it. I took videos of the kids to send to my parents, as we were overseas for six years when they were very young, and the grandparents liked receiving the videos. I never minded doing that – taking some tape of the kids playingin the snow or just being kids around the house. I hated taking vids of school programs, etc., and after a few times, I told my wife she could do it if she wanted a record, but I was going to enjoy the program as it happened. I take a lot more photos now with my digital camera, but I’m still not an enthusiast. I have a photo printer and print out what I want, and I print photos to send to my mom, as we are once again out of the US.
I added the comments about my own feelings toward taking photos to provide some insight into why I would find this practice – photographing food – odd. From the responses so far, it seems that there might not be a definitive answer beyond “cultural differences.” I think there is a generational thing at work also, as many posters have pointed out that younger people everywhere seem to be more likely to do this. I guess I should have taken photos of those swan and goldfish dumplings in Xian.
What it means is that people from cultures where work is an important value may more or less unconsciously feel the need to do something that feels like “work” even when they’re on vacation. I mean, I sort of do it too. When I’m travelling, I try to take a lot of pictures because I feel the need to “document” what I’m doing, so I can “remember” it, even though I’m probably unlikely to look at my photos very often afterwards. (I’ve never taken pictures of my food though, but now that I’ve read about it I might very well start doing it: it has happened that I would have liked to remember what I’d eaten, but didn’t.)
Of course, you’re the one who lives in Japan and not me, so I’ll trust your judgement. I was just offering this cultural explanation that my friend had heard about, not saying anything on whether it’s a likely one or not.
Maybe. That could explain why Japanese tourists are stereotyped taking pictures of everything, even quite mundane things: there is beauty to be found even in day-to-day situations.
why not? with digital cameras you don’t have to keep all you take, and with storage as it is you don’t even have to delete those you don’t want to keep.
Many people I’ve met here in China are of this style of traveling. Get the shot to prove you were there, and then on to the next spot. I’ve seen this happen amidst spectacular natural scenery, where they spend the whole time at a spot discussing where and how to take the group photo, and then literally leave 10 seconds after the shot. I’ve also seen people taking pictures with locals (like, say, of a minority culture), and then leave the instant it’s taken with a hurried “thank you”.
I find that my going through my Chinese friends’ photos and their going through my photos is almost always inevitably boring for one of us. There is a fundamental disconnect in the way we look at the purpose behind taking photographs.I’ve had a couple of (Chinese) friends ask me, “Why did you take all these pictures? You’re not in most of them.” Their eyes usually glaze over if I’m not in it.
But as for the OP, I love taking pictures of food I’ve never encountered before when traveling. It’s an integral part of the local culture, and it’s just as picture-worthy as local clothing, jewelry, homes, etc.
