“饭前拍照”怎么就火了？

When the food we order at a restaurant arrives, the first thing most of us want to do is tuck in right away. But for every person who just wants to eat their meal, there’s another who insists on taking at least five photos of their food to share on social media.

在餐厅里点的食物上桌时，大多数人首先想到的是立刻开吃。但对于想要动筷的人而言，总有人在开动前要先给这些食物拍上至少5张照片，然后在社交媒体上分享。

While this may seem like a recent phenomenon, “foodtography” has been around for longer than one would expect.

尽管这似乎是个近期才兴起的现象，“美食摄影”的历史可比我们想象中的要长得多。

Take US photographer Irving Penn (1917-2009) for example.
以美国摄影师欧文·佩恩为例。

In 1947, Vogue magazine published a series of food shots taken by Penn. Looking at the carefully placed salad ingredients or the series of cakes on stands, it would be easy to think Penn’s 70-year-old photos were taken just last week.

1947年，《Vogue》杂志刊出了一系列佩恩所摄的美食照片。看着照片中仔细摆放着的沙拉食材，或者是小吃摊上的各式蛋糕，很容易让人以为佩恩这些70年前的老照片是上周刚拍的。

Penn’s efforts aside, it seems that social media is behind the recent rise of foodtography.

除了佩恩的带动之外，社交媒体似乎也是美食摄影近期兴起的一大原因。

Today, if a social media star with thousands of followers posts just one delicious-looking food picture and mentions where it was taken, it can lead to hundreds of new customers for the restaurant or cafe.

今天，如果一位拥有上千粉丝的社交媒体明星发布了一张看起来很美味的美食照片，并圈出了打卡地点，那就会为那家餐厅或者咖啡馆带来数百位新顾客。

One such star is the anonymous “Clerkenwell Boy”, based in London, whose Instagram account is followed by over 100,000 people.

居住于伦敦的Clerkenwell Boy便是这样一位明星，他的Instagram 帐号拥有超过10万名粉丝。

Yet despite his popularity, the social media celebrity tries to use his influence for good by encouraging people not to waste food. 尽管这位社交媒体红人大受欢迎，但他却试着利用自己的影响力，鼓励人们不要浪费食物。

Research carried out earlier this year by UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, published in The Guardian, found that 55 percent of the 18- to 34-year-olds it surveyed were more likely to “try unusual recipes to create Instagram-friendly dishes” than others, leading to increased food waste.

今年早些时候，英国连锁超市 Sainsbury’s在《卫报》上发布了一项调查，该调查发现，在受访的18-34岁人群中，有55%的人比他人更喜欢“尝试一些不同寻常的食谱，做出一些会在Instagram上受到欢迎的菜”，导致食物浪费的现象日益增多。

“I hate stuff like a giant stack of seven burgers photographed and hashtagged just for likes. I think, ‘are they going to just throw that away now?’,” Clerkenwell Boy told The Guardian.

“我不喜欢那种7个汉堡堆在一起，为了求赞而带上话题的照片。我会想，‘难道他们现在就要把这些食物扔掉了吗?’，”Clerkenwell Boy在接受《卫报》采访时表示。

So while it’s fun to share snaps of delicious dishes with your friends, just remember the most important thing: Don’t forget to eat your meal afterwards.

所以，尽管和朋友们分享美食照片很有趣，但别忘了最重要的事：记得在拍完照后，吃掉你的美食。