Tim Hayward Examines How Colour Photography Shaped Food Writing

Tim Hayward argues that the arrival of colour photography reshaped food writing, forcing magazines to brighten roasts, stews, cakes and sauces that he says require no apology. Writing for the Financial Times, Hayward frames the shift as a strange shame attached to brown food, a category he defends against the visual conventions of modern food media. His account centres on the way colour reproduction changed editorial expectations: dishes once accepted in their natural tones became subjects that publishers sought to make more vivid. Hayward's piece is a critical reflection on food journalism rather than a report on a specific event, and it appears in the FT's opinion and feature pages. The essay does not identify a single publication, editor or date of change; instead it describes a broad transformation in magazine practice driven by colour photography. Hayward's position is that the roasts, stews, cakes and sauces in question need no apology, and that the pressure to brighten them is a distortion introduced by the medium rather than a response to the food itself.