This was an early lesson I picked up when I started my blog, A Brown Table. Before people cooked my recipes, they’d first look at the photos of the ingredients and the food. The colors and shapes of visuals are critical in helping whet our appetites and making decisions about food; they help build our perception of what we eat. The local farmers’ market presents a vast spectrum of colors and shapes; the bright orange pumpkins, the bundles of fresh scallions, and the clusters of blood-red cherries stacked in the stalls entice and attract your attention at every corner. The rising popularity of images of food and cooking videos on social media platforms is perhaps one of the most powerful testaments to the impact of visuals on eating.
