Full Belly Files | My iPhone’s Best Food & Drink Experiences of 2021

Maybe it’s my own internal manners monitor, but I often feel the side-eyed look of strangers — and friends and family — when I whip out my iPhone to snap pictures of my next bite, whether that’s at a restaurant or at my own kitchen table. 

Part of me laments that this admittedly annoying step now exists between making/ordering food and actual eating. There’s that bragging, FOMO-inducing element once these pics are posted to social media, the lingering questions over what it means to elevate sustenance to stardom, and the abrupt intrusion of technology onto the once-sacred space of a shared table.  

But a larger part of me is happy that it’s become acceptable. The taking-pictures-of-food movement is showcasing chefs and home cooks like never before, introducing us to new restaurants and cuisines that we may never otherwise know about, and celebrating a massive swath of our multicultural food world, from Michelin-starred sushi and smashburgers to mochi donuts and crispy lumpia. It’s leveling a playing field that was once only open to “professional” tastemakers and established media outlets.