Dinnercam reviewed by Food PR agency

Like any great (not to mention ingenious) food PR agency, staff here at Smoking Gun PR are often guided by their stomachs. Hence the reason we had a representative of the team gorging on all sorts of serious dishes in the Danish capital of Copenhagen this weekend.
From smorrebrod (AKA the tastiest and most aesthetically pleasing open sandwiches known to mankind) and veal served on pea foam with shredded Nordic cheese, to the not-so-humble hotdog (a Danish tradition, apparently, in this instance made with all organic, local produce), it’s safe to say that very few European cities can match this Scandinavian epicure’s paradise, with enough restaurant options to ensure you could eat in a different establishment every night of the year and still have plenty of new places to try out.
Needless to say then, we had a very nice time, but there was a problem. Much as we are growing tired of the whole Facebook-feed-full-of-food trend that continues to mean we can’t move for gastronomic images, sometimes a plate really does deserve a picture. Not least when it has been conceived by some of the best chefs on the continent, who, in addition to having a penchant for palette-pleasing, also make a huge effort to present the courses in a truly spectacular fashion. In short, we couldn’t help but take a few smartphone shots of the edibles in question, yet even with the range of filters and settings available on most mobile cameras nothing really seemed to do the meals justice.
Imagine our delight at the news of Dinnercam, then, a new device primarily aimed at food bloggers and social media photographers, which almost guarantees to cast everything from amuse bouche to that end of dinner amaretto in a favourable light. As the following video shows, the idea is to make professional looking ‘food photo shoots’ a real possibility for just about everyone involved in the business…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbQh0uzPVAo
It’s certainly going to be an improvement on most people’s pictures. So far MWeb, the company responsible for the invention (South Africa’s second largest internet service provider) has installed the kit in one Cape Town restaurant, which is available for customers to use on request. They firm has also come under fire from some less welcoming corners of the online world, which isn’t surprising given the fact the whole ‘look at what I’m eating’ thing is something of a bone of contention for many.
Nevertheless, we actually welcome the concept, albeit so long as it doesn’t mean we’re about to see people queueing for a turn on Dinnercam whilst allowing their tea to go cold. From the perspective of a food PR and marketing agency, any invention that aims to ensure a product is shown in the best way possible, cutting down on the number of bad-looking food images, is surely a good thing for the people who created the product. In this instance, how many times has a restaurant, bar or cafe suffered at the hands of less than talented mobile camera wielders (case in point the image at the top of this page)? Food photography makes a huge different to the way in which an eatery is perceived- whether that’s well-lit photos of burgers for a take away menu, or accompanying pictures for a professional review, meaning the idea of making it easier for people to do the dishes justice should probably be welcomed by those in the trade.