What we eat, where and how we eat—is never just about food. These choices reflect our identities, social roles, and even aspirations. In anthropology, that makes food an ideal entry point to observe how people live and express themselves. But beyond research, learning to read food spaces can also prepare students for careers in media, branding, and more.

I experienced this firsthand in Rio Paranaíba, a small town in Minas Gerais, Brazil. For my own research, I came to study cozinha mineira, the region’s traditional cuisine. I imagined family-run cafés, recipes passed down through generations, and hearty dishes like feijão tropeiro (muleteer’s beans) or tutu de feijão (refried beans). I had read about the cuisine and thought I would find these places easily.

I did not succeed. Some of the places I had read about were closed, while others that claimed to be traditional, offered only modern snacks. So, my original research plan failed, and I began visiting every café, snack bar, and eatery I could find to discover a new direction for my project. My Portuguese was limited, and most Brazilians do not speak English, so I had to shift from participant to non-participant observation. I started mapping the town through its food spaces, but even basic information like opening hours was confusing—some places closed by 2 p.m. while others only opened after 6:00 p.m.

That is when I turned to Instagram. In Brazil, many restaurants do not have websites, but nearly all have Instagram pages. At first, I wanted to collect more data about these places. But I quickly noticed a striking difference between how they looked in real life and how they appeared online. A simple student canteen might seem boring in person with its white walls and metal trays, but this is a place that students post group selfies and tag their friends, turning it into a social hub. A sleek dessert café’s official posts show perfect cakes, but customers share messy, joyful table shots. These contrasts sparked a question: what stories do food spaces tell online, and what do they hide? That question became the starting point for From Plate to Place, a project where I, along with some volunteers, observe food spaces offline and analyze how they are curated on Instagram.

This reminded me of food semiotics research from  Roland Barthes’ writing about Japanese cuisine and its use of chopsticks instead of forks and knives, to Simona Stano’s interpretation of food as one way to “consume” other cultures symbolically, so their works became my optics for this study.

These skills are not only for academics. This project is in its early days and we are still gathering data, but I believe this work builds real skills, including:

1. field observation as the first level of analysis—how the place looks, what it seems to connote for its patrons and
2. semiotic analysis as the second. This means reading a space not just as a physical location but as a reflection of values, for example:
   1. the popularity of bubble tea cafés showing Asian influence in adolescent fashion—K-pop, doramas (East Asian dramas), and manhuas (Chinese comics)
   2. snooker bars reflecting co-existing traditional masculinity spaces, and
   3. traditional Japanese restaurants still preserving ties to immigrant communities.
3. social media analysis as the third level—comparing values that can be observed online and offline—or that appear only through the act of curating and editing a post.

With training on a project like this, they can be useful for working as an applied anthropologist with:

• Restaurateurs who want to understand how their space is perceived and what image they are projecting online.
• Public Relations and brand managers who need to decode customer values.
• Social Medeia Marketingt (SMM) specialists and user experience (UX) designers who need to understand real customer experiences—how they perceive places and how they want to represent them online.

If you are a student, especially in anthropology, media, or cultural studies, try this in your own town to feel what I am talking about:

1. Pick a few cafés or restaurants.
2. Visit in person. Observe the space, the people, the atmosphere.
3. Look them up on Instagram. What is emphasized? What is missing?
4. Compare. What does this tell you about values, aspirations, or cultural identity?

Or maybe you can look into your own social media to better understand how your posts represent your interpretation of the world. From Plate to Place started with food, but it is really about learning to see the world around us (both online and offline) and helping others see it more clearly, too.

If you want to join in this project, you can contact me at ekaterina.a.santanna@gmail.com

Below are examples of photos from one location.

1) Location Photos (Outside & Inside)

2) Main Dish  Pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread) served with coffee

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