The subreddit boasts a whopping 3.8 million ‘foodies’ who can’t help but share truly beautiful photos of food. The moderators point out that people should do their best to post pics of food that they made themselves. However, if you simply want to share a nice-looking image that you found online, then you’re limited to only one per day. In short—original content is given preference.

The online community will be celebrating its 12th birthday this November. Taking into account just how aesthetic their regular posts look, imagine the size, taste, and looks of their next birthday cake!

The subreddit’s mods point out that their community is all about food that is “simple, attractive, and visual.” And, despite their name, there’s “nothing suggestive or inappropriate” about the content that they post.

In my interview with pie artist Jessica, who is the author of ‘Pies Are Awesome: The Definitive Pie Art Book,’ she told me that anyone who wants to pursue food art as a career should look beyond the confines of the kitchen for inspiration. The more we know about the world, the wider our gaze, the better our food is bound to look. But first, we’ve got to hone our skills.

“Learn everything you can about your own subject, but also subjects outside of your food art vertical. Learn about chocolate sculpting, fruit carving, sugar pulling, entremets… whatever you have the opportunity to learn about that is even tangentially connected to your subject. This will help get you thinking outside of the box in terms of the materials and ingredients you use and the flavor profiles you create!” Jessica told Bored Panda.

“For subject matter and technique inspiration, look outside of the world of baking. Look to nature, fashion, architecture, fine art, pop culture, engineering, crafts like origami, decoupage, silicon mold making, textiles, math + science, printmaking, and historical milieus,” the food artist suggested that everything can inspire us, so long as we’re creative and flexible enough. So don’t discount something before thinking about it as a potential source of inspiration for your next gastronomic project.

“Think, ‘How could this concept work as a pie?’” If you look to non-baking works when brainstorming ideas, you are far more likely to hit upon something truly unique and compelling for your audience,” she said.

Jessica pointed out to Bored Panda that one way to hone your cooking and baking skills further is to become actively engaged with the various food communities over on Reddit. However, she noted that humility is the best policy in these cases.

“First and foremost, be a supporter of other people’s work. Contribute more than just your own content—comment on other people’s posts, answer questions, and just generally act the way you would with a new group of friends in real life!”