Recognizing Normal, Edible Food

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.