RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Seems like you can't dine out anymore without seeing someone snap a photo of their beautiful meal and post it on social media. But this trend, #foodporn, is nothing new. Researchers at Cornell University analyzed hundreds of Western still life paintings from the last 500 years. And they found those paintings over represented aspirational foods - of the exotic foods glorified in paint, lobster and artichokes. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.