Vittles presents: From Aspic to Instagram

The best food photography can define an era. Think of the mannered still-lifes of the 1970s, the kinetic, casual photos omnipresent in '90s cookbooks, or the textured realism of Instagram. Yet, for all its influence, food photography dates quickly. Good recipes often stand the test of time but food photography falls out of fashion.

This lively conversation, curated by online food magazine Vittles, explores the evolution of food photography since the 1970s. A panel of photographers traces how images of food have shifted from the gloss and artifice of early studio shots, to the chaos of contemporary visual food culture. They look at how changing technologies have reshaped not only aesthetics but also who gets to make 'good' food images in a globalised social media world.

Learn about the food photographers who defined the dominant aesthetics across the decades, the ways desire and aspiration have been constructed through photography and consider what might the future of food photography look like in an age of AI and hyper‑abundance.