by Jared Keller

In February， I attended the wedding of a former colleague in Washington， D.C. The 1）reverends homily touched on the role that food had played in the bride and grooms relationship. Their love， cultivated while sharing meals， reflects the role of food in the human experience. The reverend described a picture that the groom had taken of the scene where he had proposed： a spread of delicious meats， cheeses， and wine； the rolling hills of the Virginia countryside in the background. “It was a small feast on a hill to mark a rich moment shared together，” said the reverend with a laugh. “Im sure theres a photo somewhere on 2）Instagram.” The congregation laughed and exchanged knowing nods.

As far as I can tell， the practice of photographing ones food—whether in restaurants or at family gatherings—is generally deplored. The New York Times Style section reported in January that restaurants in Manhattan were banning it.

（“Its a disaster in terms of 3）momentum， settling into the meal，” said one chef. “Its hard to build a memorable evening when flashes are flying every six minutes.”）

We laugh at the thought of a beautiful moment ruined by Instagram， but meals continue to fill our online lives. The Internet is brimming with steak and fried eggs， 4）kale and rice， ice cream and coffee.

So why did food colonise the Internet？ The dinner table was （and still is） the primary site for family， a place where parents and children， despite their disparate schedules， reaffirm their familial bonds on a daily basis.

The latest explosion of online food sharing is driven by the particularly social nature of the modern Internet. Now， social networks such as Facebook， Twitter and Instagram specifically demand details about our lives. This is their business model， of course： Facebook makes its money by selling personal data to advertisers. But it is also deeper than that： our desire to connect and share memories is what keeps these networks growing. “The photograph itself， even an artily 5）manipulated one， has become so cheap and 6）ubiquitous that its no longer of much value. But the experience of sharing it is， and thats what Facebook is in the business of encouraging us to do，” wrote The New York Times art critic Karen Rosenberg in 2012. “Its no coincidence that still lifes of food are among the most-shared photos， along with babies， puppies and sunsets.”

There are limits， as Rosenberg hints： is a photograph of food the same as sharing a meal？ Is it as 7）authentic as a physical dinner enjoyed with friends？ You cant eat a picture. But the patterns of sharing and consumption and the values they convey are no less authentic for taking place in a new digital realm. The lives we live online and off are not separate things： they influence and inform one another. The experiences we enjoy with our friends and family can be captured and relived collectively.

Filtered photos of food probably wont replace the experience of the meal itself. But in modern society， where office workers often lunch at their desks， and dining alone at a public restaurant is common enough yet regarded as unsettlingly abnormal， the Internets foodie impulses can help to preserve the social aspect of mealtime.

Instagram reported that users uploaded around 200 photos a second from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. during Thanksgiving Day last year， with around 10 million images bearing some kind of food tag. That was the services biggest day on record. The Thanksgiving meal， an experience shared by every American family regardless of creed or colour， became just as much a focus for familial relationships online as it had always been offline.

The New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik was inspired to call his book The Table Comes First by the British chef Fergus Henderson， who said to him： “I dont understand how a young couple can begin life by buying a sofa or a television… Dont they know the table comes first？” On a deep level， the type of food and manner of its preparation are secondary to the context of its consumption and the company with whom its shared. The table might change， but it will always be the space in which our relationships are made.

二月時(shí)，我在華盛頓特區(qū)參加了一位舊同事的婚禮。當(dāng)時(shí)牧師的講道提到了食物在新郎新娘的戀情中所起到的作用。他們的愛情是在互相分享食物的時(shí)候培養(yǎng)出來(lái)的，反映出了食物在人生經(jīng)歷中所扮演的角色。牧師描述了一張新郎拍下的求婚現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的照片：一席美味的肉菜、奶酪和酒，背景是弗吉尼亞鄉(xiāng)村起伏的群山。“這是在山上舉行的小型宴會(huì)，慶祝著相聚共享的濃情時(shí)刻，”牧師笑著說(shuō)，“我敢確定Instagram上也有這張照片?！痹谧娜硕夹α似饋?lái)，相互會(huì)意地點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭。

據(jù)我所知，對(duì)著食物拍照這種做法，不管是在飯店還是在家庭聚餐上，通常都是很讓人反感的?！都~約時(shí)報(bào)》時(shí)尚版塊在一月份報(bào)道了曼哈頓的飯店正禁止對(duì)食物拍照的事。

（“用餐時(shí)拍照漸成趨勢(shì)，這是一個(gè)災(zāi)難”，一位廚師說(shuō)，“當(dāng)閃光燈不時(shí)閃起，便很難營(yíng)造一個(gè)難忘的夜晚。”）

對(duì)于美好時(shí)刻毀于Instagram之指責(zé)，我們一笑置之，但食物還是不斷充斥著我們的網(wǎng)上生活。網(wǎng)上到處都是牛排和煎蛋，甘藍(lán)和米飯，冰激凌和咖啡。

那么，為什么食物會(huì)侵占我們的網(wǎng)絡(luò)空間呢？餐桌以前是（而且現(xiàn)在仍是）家庭中最為重要的地方。父母與孩子，不管各自的日程有多不同，餐桌都是大家每天維系親情紐帶的地方。

最近網(wǎng)上曬美食的熱潮是由于現(xiàn)代網(wǎng)絡(luò)極具社會(huì)性所驅(qū)使而成的?，F(xiàn)在的社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)，諸如臉譜網(wǎng)，推特微博和Instagram都特別要求我們展示生活的細(xì)節(jié)。當(dāng)然，這就是他們的企業(yè)模式，臉譜網(wǎng)就是通過(guò)向廣告商出售個(gè)人數(shù)據(jù)來(lái)賺錢的。但也并非如此簡(jiǎn)單：我們與人聯(lián)系分享回憶的愿望是推動(dòng)這些網(wǎng)站發(fā)展壯大的因素?！罢掌旧?，即使是經(jīng)過(guò)藝術(shù)處理的照片，已經(jīng)變得不值錢，俯拾皆是，不再有多大價(jià)值可言。但有價(jià)值的是分享照片的經(jīng)歷，這也是臉譜網(wǎng)正鼓勵(lì)我們?nèi)プ龅氖?，”《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》藝術(shù)評(píng)論員凱倫·羅森伯格在2012年寫道，“食物照片成為最多人分享的圖片，這絕非偶然，同樣最廣受歡迎的還有寶寶、小狗和日落的照片?！?/p>

同時(shí)羅森伯格暗示，分享照片也有局限性：分享一張食物的照片等同于和別人共享一餐嗎？這跟現(xiàn)實(shí)中與朋友一同分享晚餐那樣真實(shí)嗎？你不可能吃掉一張圖片。但在新的數(shù)字領(lǐng)域中，這些圖片所傳達(dá)的分享、消費(fèi)和價(jià)值模式，其真實(shí)感卻毫不遜色。我們?cè)诰W(wǎng)上和現(xiàn)實(shí)中的生活不是分離的，兩者相互影響，相互聯(lián)動(dòng)。我們與親友共度的美好時(shí)光能被大家一同保存，一同重新回顧。

經(jīng)過(guò)濾鏡處理的食物照片不可能會(huì)代替用餐經(jīng)歷本身。但是在現(xiàn)代社會(huì)，辦公室職員通常在辦公桌上吃飯，或是獨(dú)自一人在公共餐館用餐，這些都已再普遍不過(guò)了，但卻被認(rèn)為反常得令人不安。到互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上曬食物的沖動(dòng)能有助于保存用餐時(shí)間的社交氣氛。

Instagram發(fā)表報(bào)告稱，去年感恩節(jié)期間，從早上十點(diǎn)到下午兩點(diǎn)，其用戶每秒上傳約兩百?gòu)堈掌?，其中近千萬(wàn)張照片上或多或少都帶有食物的標(biāo)記。這是該網(wǎng)站所記載下來(lái)的上傳量最大的日子。感恩節(jié)大餐，這種每個(gè)美國(guó)家庭——無(wú)論任何宗教和膚色，一同分享的經(jīng)歷成為了網(wǎng)上展現(xiàn)家庭關(guān)系的一個(gè)重點(diǎn)，就如同其往常在現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中所體現(xiàn)的一樣。

《紐約客》雜志的作家亞當(dāng)·高普尼克受到英國(guó)大廚弗格斯·亨德森啟發(fā)，將自己的書取名為《餐桌最重要》。當(dāng)時(shí)大廚亨德森對(duì)他說(shuō)：“我不能理解年輕情侶怎么能買張沙發(fā)或者買臺(tái)電視就開始生活……難道他們不知道餐桌最重要嗎？”從更深層次來(lái)說(shuō)，用餐環(huán)境和一同享用之人是最重要的，食物的種類和烹調(diào)的方式緊隨其后。餐桌或許會(huì)變化，但是它始終是我們建立關(guān)系的地方。