Yeah, yeah, yeah. We know. It's super-annoying and disruptive. But, hey, we're not the ones saying posting pics of your food makes it taste better. Science is. Or at least, that's how some people are interpreting a recent study.
See also: - Ten Instagram-ers for the Phoenix Food Lover to Follow
According to researchers from the University of Minnesota and Harvard Business School, rituals "enhance the enjoyment of consumption because of the greater involvement in the experience that they prompt."
The study involved one experiment in which half of the 52 participants were asked to perform a sort of "ritual" before eating a chocolate bar. In the experiment, the ritual involved breaking the bar in half, unwrapping half then eating it before repeating the process on the other half of the bar. The results indicated that the participants who did so enjoyed eating the candy more than those who weren't given any special instructions.
So if you're thinking, "Wait, what does that have to do with Instagramming?" that means you're paying attention. The study didn't really have anything to do with snapping pics of your food. What it's really saying is that performing any sort of repeated ritual before you eat might make your food taste better. It could be because of the delayed gratification or because it just makes things seem more special but for whatever reason, it seems to work.
Kathleen D. Vohs, lead author of the new study, suggested in an interview with NBC a few ideas for rituals that might be less annoying than having a photo shoot before you dig in. Those ideas included setting the table for dinner each night or blessing your food.
But, hey, if posting pics of your food is working for you, we're not going to tell you to fix it.
