Juicy, Exotic, Decadent: Food Porn Is Actually Centuries Old

It turns out, abundance and indulgence have been popular themes in food imagery in paintings for much of the last millennium: A survey of paintings from the past 500 years suggests that artists have always preferred depicting the most beautiful, exotic and alluring foods. "Our love affair with visually appealing, decadent or status foods is nothing new," study co-author Andrew Weislogel, a curator at Cornell's Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, said in a statement.