I write this article from a trendy cafe in Newington, surrounded by open brick walls, minimalist furniture, and a perfume-sampling table as I contemplate whether the cool-girl aesthetics of the cafe justifies the £10 it cost me for a coffee and cake. As usual, the camera ate first, because who cares if the coffee was overpriced if I can post it on Instagram? The epidemic of trendy cafes and restaurants has spread rapidly over the last decade, and it begs the question — what do we value when eating out: aesthetics or authenticity?
Perhaps the problem is not that we like going to aesthetic restaurants, but that we have begun to confuse aesthetics with quality. Social media has turned eating out into a performance, where the restaurant becomes not just a physical space, but a backdrop for our online identities. Carefully curated small plates and low lighting have become a symbol of quality and worth, regardless of how tasty or filling the food actually is. We are no longer just paying for the food on our plates, but the opportunity to capture and post it, advertising that we know the fashionable places to eat.
This changes the way we experience pleasure itself. When our first instinct upon receiving our meal is to take a picture, we interrupt the experience of eating out, being with friends, and enjoying good food. When you consider the lighting and organise the table for a photo, even pleasure becomes something to curate, and life becomes a transaction for receiving content.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting to go to a beautiful restaurant, or post pictures of your food. However, it becomes a problem when aesthetics become a substitute for substance. We end up devaluing the quality of the food and the hospitality, and we become numb to the ever-soaring prices. Instead of debating aesthetics against authenticity, perhaps we should question whether we have allowed the internet to dictate what we consider worth experiencing in the first place.
But this obsession with aesthetics raises a more complicated question: whose food do we consider worthy of attention? While trendy restaurants can repackage other cultures’ cuisines as innovative ‘fusion’ dishes — and charge extortionate prices for it — the immigrant communities who brought those flavours to Britain and have cooked these foods for generations are often overlooked or dismissed because the restaurant is not aesthetic enough.
When we judge a restaurant by how well it fits a certain visual ideal, we risk overlooking the history and people of that cultures’ cuisine. Beautiful restaurants don’t automatically lack authenticity, but it’s important to not let aesthetics dictate where we eat and which communities we support. So, in the name of putting my money where my mouth is, I’ve been on a mission to look beyond Instagram to find Edinburgh’s best independent food spots and thankfully, Edinburgh’s food scene extends far beyond the latest Instagram trend. From South Bridge to Newington Road, you can find dozens of East and South Asian restaurants, run by local immigrant families, some favourites being On Bap, Noodles and Dumplings, and Tanjore. Further from campus, there’s Muna’s Ethiopian Cuisine near Fountainbridge, Sabzi near Newhaven, and Spitaki Greek Taverna in Canonmills.
Image by Zoe Downey for The Student.
