Paper Short Abstract:

Digital food cultures emerge on image-based platforms and social media, impacting users’ identity, daily habits and their relationship with food.

Paper Abstract:

In the context of imaged-based platforms and social media, food practices have been digitized and processes of food datification have been established. The constant access to food images and allegedly evidence-based information about diets has had an impact on “digital food cultures”, which are defined as the belief systems and practices around food, which impact the identity, knowledge, eating habits and the relationship of individuals with food. The visual potential of social media allows specific forms of communication and transmission of ideas in a faster, more diverse, engaging, all-times accessible, and visually appealing way. Eating with the eyes has never been as true.

Influencers on social media can share and shape these digital food cultures, mainly through processes of social identification and comparison, and with a particular aid from visual-supported content. As we have seen, the consequences are very real to the individuals exposed to this content, even when the simplification of complex nutritional and cultural information that helps the messages go viral is at the expense of accuracy. Therefore, the new forms of authority and knowledge spread are redefined based on video and image aesthetics; in the case of food, research shows that the engagement comes from modified images of dishes to look more appealing, huge and diverse quantities of food, and body goals showed on camera.