Why Nigella Lawson Thinks Instagram Is Bad For This Food

It's pretty rare these days to go into a restaurant or serve up a meal for a party without having guests or other diners take out their phones and take pictures of whatever is placed in front of them. And the drive to create camera-worthy meals to share on social media could be taking away from a niche form of cooking that we all need in our lives: comfort food. Because let's face it — comfort foods are made to fill a spot in a soul, not attract likes on Instagram.

One of Britain's favorite chefs, Nigella Lawson, says it's for that reason that she doesn't see Instagram as a chef's best — because food isn't always photogenic or camera-ready. Instead, she feels the Internet has become a reason for cooks to despair. "Instafood is a strange place: so many quadruple-tiered ombré-iced cakes (how on Earth do you even slice them, let alone eat them?); so much perfectly styled food — there only because it looks pretty," she said (via The Guardian).

Instagram-worthy dishes don't exactly boost the self-esteem levels of comfort foods (or their cooks), which can look dull by comparison. Lawson explains, "When I post a picture of a stew, I feel I have to remind people — who find the messy brownness unappealing — that 1) stews are brown and 2) brown food tastes the best. It doesn't really matter to me whether people post pictures of stews on Instagram or Pinterest, but it does worry me if they stop cooking them. Not because it would be a bad thing, but because it would be a sad thing."

Lawson isn't the only one who feels this way. Eater says Instagram food isn't really what you'd think of as nourishment. Instead, Instagram food is all about the look, because the social media platform doesn't actually tackle the actual business of eating. As Bea Iturregui, who works at a digital agency that pairs Instagram influencers with brands says, "People wait hours in line for this stuff, and it's not because they think it's going to be the greatest thing they've ever tasted. [But] food trends are often too rich, too sugary and just too much. The real gratification comes once the photo is posted."

So if you're served something that tastes like heaven but doesn't exactly look that great, put down your camera, pick up fork, and start eating, because that dish is doing exactly what it's meant to do.