Forget food porn. The latest Instagram trend is rooted in an ancient way of life

While social media forecasters may suggest that unique foods are a trend, this logic contradicts some principles of evolutionary psychology. Humans evolved to quickly visually recognize foods, not just for what is edible, but also for what is calorie-dense.

Since finding and eating edible food was crucial for survival when humans were hunter-gatherers, we may be hardwired to feel intrinsically good when we simply see the food we know we can eat.

The average user spends over two hours a day on social media platforms, exposing themselves to hundreds of different posts in a single scrolling session.

While rapidly processing content, the brain may instinctively feel more positively toward images that are more easily recognized as food. These positive feelings can then transfer to behaviours directed toward the post, thereby increasing the likelihood of the post receiving likes, comments, or shares.

Since people feel better when they see foods that are easily recognizable as food, normal-looking food tends to get more likes. On the other hand, unique foods tend to result in lower social media engagement because they are harder to recognize and classify as food.

Despite food industry bloggers and social media trends suggesting that people crave unique, eye-catching content, the most successful Instagrammable foods are the normal-looking ones that are more easily recognized as food.