I can understand why he may not want you to take photographs (maybe because of copyright?).

However, I still find this disappointing, because people love to take photographs of the food, in memory of celebrations, etc.

How sad that no one can take photos at this restaurant anymore.

I don't see why he wouldn't allow it, I think its a shame because part of the joy of food comes from looking at it.

good! seeing people taking pictures of their dinner plates just mystifies me.

I honestly agree with him, taking pictures of your food to look at afterwards can get a bit anal and weird! A restaurant is judged by its ambience and taking pictures is quite annoying for other people. I know that people do it to capture moments with friend and such but taking pictures of your food only is weird in my book!
photograph your food at home in your own kitchen but its probably disturbing for him and his staff

I think it's silly for someone to be that bothered if someone wants to take a picture. If you find it weird then don't do it. Then again I don't go out much but if someone was taking pictures, I probably wouldn't notice. I'd be more bothered by someone taking my picture while I'm eating my food.

My question for his policy is that is it just for food or lets say someone is having a birthday, you cant take pictures in his restaurant of that either?

if its not hurting/bothering anyone i dont see why not..

i can understand if your vocation correlates with taking pictures, then you should be able to especially

I wonder how many people he's seen taking pictures of the food in his life to come up with a rule against it....

Ridiculous.

"It's just food. Eat it," is not even a reason not to let people take pictures. Come on David, what are you so insecure about?

if it's just food to be eaten, then why all the attention to presentation? and if some big time magazine comes in to review he would probably let them take pictures. therefore, i don't understand why food bloggers can't take pictures. (also, if i'm paying for my food, i think i should be able to do whatever i want with it.)

I can't understand this at all and it just turns me off to going to this guy's restaurant. I've added more than one restaurant to my "must visit" list just because of photos and a review from a blog. I think it's great PR! And if my fellow diner was taking a photo of his food, I doubt that I'd even notice let alone be bothered by it. This guy needs to chill ... as do many people who have these stupid no photography rules.

The only reason I can think of is that I know chefs get pissed off if they invent a creative presentation and then, shortly thereafter, other restaurants start copying the menu item and/or presentation of the food.

So I love to take pictures of my dishes, however, I rarely do because I get very self-conscious. Most of the time, when I do, other patrons give me the stink eye if I have my flash on. I can't help it though since most restaurants are dim-lit! I guess I can understand, but BOOOOOOOOO!

I mean, especially when I go to restaurants that cost an arm and a leg and are truly an experience, I need the pictures to remind me how much fun I had because I have a bad memory.

I think if anything, looking back at the pictures makes me want to go again, because it refreshes my memory of how good it was.

i can understand why he would enforce that rule - but i think that it depends on what you're taking a picture of. say you're out with a group of friends and you want to capture the evening, you should be able to snap a picture or 2. i guess it's one of those rules that someone will have to enforce with an iron fist.

I love taking photos of food in restaurants - I write about the meal on my food blog, never mind when travelling I want to be able to show family and friends the type of cuisine I indulged in.

And given that food doesn't fall under copyright protection (and as a result, food is the most creative industry - moreso than film, music, art, and literature), I'm a bit flummoxed as to why he's so precious about people taking photos of their meals. People have brazenly served Gordon Ramsay's recipes in their restaurants, and there is nothing that Ramsay can do to stop them, other than continuing to be creative and move with the times to keep business coming into his restaurants.

It's definitely a turn off.

to tell you the truth, i think he is a tad arrogant for assuming people would take a picture to intentionaly copy his presentation. ANYONE could dine at the restaurant, not like the food is a big secret...

What are his reasons?

if it's to secure his original ideas, then WHY NOT?
I hate it when people plagiarize ideas from my research papers and claim it as their own.
Why is food any different?
It takes more than a few dashes of salt to create a dish worth putting on the menu.
I think people need to respect that.

I love taking pictures of food by the way, but I think this chef is just taking precautions.
If he set this rule just because he's annoyed by people taking pictures of their dinner plates, then BOO!

Pinkberry, Yogurtland, Frozos... all have no-photography rules too.
I heard it was to protect others from stealing interior design ideas and yogurt machines.

It might be copied but his presentation would still be the original...on the other hand, it also smacks of arrogance and elitism. I might try to duplicate the dish at home, just to repeat a fine meal that is part of a wonderful memory but it certainly would never be as nicely done as his, so what is there for him to be concerned about?

Good point Rancher. It comes across as a little insecure.

If other restaurants are intent on copying a chef's work, they can do it without cameras. He'd have to ban notepads and sketchbooks, too.

Also, there is such a thing as hidden cameras, which people who do commercial espionage would have, unlike your average photo enthusiast, who'd have a huge-ass camera you can't possibly miss.

Anyway, I don't even notice cameras at restaurants unless there's a flash. And even then, it's brief enough not to be a real bother.

I don't take a camera to dinner for 'food fotos'..
It's normally to take snapshots of the evening
of me and whoever I'm with.

If you're paying for a meal you should be able to do what you want with it. He sounds like an ass.

Even though I personally have a pet peeve against people who snap photographs of their food at restaurants, I think its okay to take 1 or 2 pictures of a dish that's AMAZING. but some people go way overboard and take pictures of every single dish! and that annoys me.

He doesn't want you recreating it at home and the picture would not only remind you to do it but remind you what exactly you're recreating. Also it is his product and he has a right to not have photos of it online.

I agree with him completely. Snapping pictures not only ruins the ambience for other diners, but if half of your brain is thinking about taking pictures and what you are going to say about it on your blog later you are not in the moment enjoying the food. Unfortunately it seems there is a trend for people to go to well known or expensive places and collect pictures of their food like stamps or boyscout badges rather than just being there for the experience. And finally, I just don't see the point. Yes, presentation is a part of enjoying food, but to me only a very very small part. I know a lot of people talk about how they love to look at these pictures but I just don't identify. I read food blogs for the recipes, ideas, and techniques, NOT pictures.

If you believe that high-end cuisine is an artform, then of course you're not going to want anyone to take pictures of your art. Would you go into a small gallery where artists have their paintings on display and take photos of it so you could put it online? Probably not. And if you did, you'd probably get contacted by the artist to take it down. So not allowing people take photos of your "food art" isn't so weird.

Is it good for marketing and PR? No. The more that your art gets out there, the more demand is generated for it, and more people will come to buy it. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. And if he's afraid of others stealing his presentation, well it could just be a challenge for him to be more creative and come up with new ones.

ashleylynne brings up some interesting points.

If we are going to start treating restaurants and art galleries the same way, then chefs need to issue press-images of their food that have been approved for use in blogs, magazines, etc.

Art galleries distribute these kinds of images for all their shows. Many small galleries have these images available to download on their website. Maybe chefs could post these images on the restaurant's site.

i love food photography! i like remembering what i ate.

changs reading too much of his own press. get over yo-self. there are those of us still remember how momofuku ssam sat empty for months on end (or was it closer to over a year?) until the PR machine kicked in.

nothin gets done in this city without PR so get over yourself and appreciate that diners love your well publicized grub enough to whip out the camera-better than having your joints open but empty, RIGHT?

dang...shrink that big head of yours and return to reality.