They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I believe that when it comes to food, it should be worth ten thousand. For decades, we have become accustomed to dull, categorized printed menus in restaurants. The shift to online ordering and the growing digital presence of many culinary establishments opened the door to more visual selling points.
I recently developed a restaurant website template (available on digital marketplaces) and also created a website for “360 Café”, a restaurant in Costa Rica. During the development process, I often asked myself how I could visually convey the restaurant’s essence. How can I visually tell the story of a cheesecake?
Culinary visual storytelling
Visual storytelling conveys ideas, emotions, and messages primarily through images rather than words. Instead of using sentences to tell a story, it uses elements like photos, colors, composition, lighting, and symbols to create meaning, evoke feelings, or promote immediate understanding.
Culinary visual storytelling centers on creating a narrative around food that can be used across various platforms, such as digital restaurant menus, grocery store websites, and online cookbooks. It utilizes photography, styling, and plating to convey the dish’s history, ingredients, or cooking techniques.
Here are a few examples of my impressions and thoughts when analyzing the visuals of the most popular food items of “360 Café.”
Exhibit 1: Royalty (Cheeseburger and fries)
When I look at this picture, my eyes move back and forth between the fries and the meat. While the burger might be more interesting (culinarily and photogenically), the fries are placed at the front of the picture as if they are the main attraction. It’s uncommon to bring the side dish to the forefront, yet here they are arranged in a messy way, which increases their presence (more than the actual amount). They create an illusion of a carpet, waiting for the Burger King to step on it.
It was also clever to create some distance between the viewer and the burger, making it seem like this food item has some regal quality. I notice the burnt bun on top, hinting at some crispiness, and the messy layers in the bun, which add value to each element. There’s also a strategic decision to hide some of the vegetables, as meat and potatoes tend to sell better. This photo shows how, sometimes, the arrangement of food items tells the story of the whole meal.
Exhibit 2: Law and Order (Rice and chicken)
Rice dishes are often messy. Without direct supervision, those little grains would scatter all over the plate (and beyond) after a few bites, making it look unappealing. This photo contradicts that, emphasizing strict law and order. If I had to pick one word to describe this photo, it would be: Boundaries.
The rice and chicken are clearly centered within a somewhat square shape. The messy fried potatoes and the artistic garden salad have their own designated plate space with clear boundaries. It’s like a family where the parents, the messy teenager, and the artistic young sibling each live in separate rooms. The boundaries break the typical fusion pattern seen in rice dishes, giving each element a place of honor and making the whole dish more appealing.
Exhibit 3: Diversity (Mint milkshake)
While most milkshakes are uniform with a single blended color, this photo highlights the contrasting hues, resembling an intimate dance between green mint and rich chocolate. This division of colors highlights the beverage’s diversity within the same ‘space’ where everyone is together, yet they don’t blend into one.
This photo has a vintage vibe; the mason jar and overflowing toppings brought back memories of ice cream parlors or homemade desserts at family gatherings. Overall, it highlights the nostalgic charm of this drink, with effective use of colors, camera angles, and lighting.
Exhibit 4: Geography (Nachos)
One of my favorite elements in culinary visual storytelling is when the dish and the landscape complement each other. I imagine a tourist visiting Arenal, a volcanic hot springs resort in Costa Rica, and enjoying a local dish that perfectly mirrors what they see outside their window.
I notice how the ingredients are arranged here, creating a “Nacho Volcano.” The nachos form the structure, and the green lettuce lava spills from the top. This scene could easily be shared on social media and look like what you’d find on local postcards, emphasizing both the dish’s visual appeal and flavor fusion. I find that the essence of history, geography, and culinary arts is well conveyed here.
Exhibit 5: Warmth (Cappuccino)
I see three distinct elements here: a cute bear, a sturdy, clean cup, and a vintage background. I imagine someone sitting alone, waiting for a companion who never arrives, finding warmth and comfort in a smiling teddy bear. The lighting creates a quiet, gloomy atmosphere, which enhances the warmth of the smiling bear (and possibly the coffee too). This photo embodies contradictions: old versus new, cold versus warm, a clear circle versus an irregular-shaped background. In this gloomy, cold world, the barista’s art offers all the love you need.
Exhibit 6: Beauty (Fruit smoothies)
When you have a menu of a dozen fruit smoothies, you only bring the top three to the center of the stage. Not necessarily the tastiest ones, but the ones the camera loves the most. The top three are posing here with a bent handle, as if they were contestants in a beauty contest. The camera angle comes from below, emphasizing the presence of those fruit beauties, and the crown mint on top adds to their glory.
Red, yellow, and green. I look at these colors and think of a traffic light. Red: Stop and relax. Yellow: Slow down or find balance. Green: Explore or energize. Here, the person who directed this photo, chose the elements and composed the shot, deserves all the credit.
Exhibit 7: Play time (Chicken Nuggets)
When I was a kid, I used to think that food is boring. I believe that restaurants wanting to attract children focus on the toy in the Happy Meal and the packaging more than the food itself. This photo is all about play. You’re not just eating boring chicken; you’re playing with it. The hands here turn a static image into something dynamic. The food items are tossed all around, the ketchup is dripping, and I get the sense of an intentional mess. Kids don’t care about appearance; they just wanna have fun. And this is the essence of the photo—pure fun.
Conclusion
Culinary visual storytelling has unique qualities that distinguish it from other forms of storytelling. The narrative often involves tradition, taste, and geography, which are heavily influenced by carefully selected visual elements. As demand grows and more platforms emerge, the world of culinary visual storytelling will continue to develop and expand in the near future.
