Food starts deteriorating the moment it's plated, which puts nearly all of the work before the dish ever reaches the table.
Every other genre gives you a subject that waits. Food doesn't: steam stops, sauces dull, greens wilt and ice cream is gone in minutes. The practical answer is to build the shot before the real dish exists — light, camera, angle and props all set and tested on a stand-in plate, so the moment the plate lands you're shooting rather than adjusting.
Styling decisions belong in that same pre-shoot window. Surface, linens, cutlery and garnish should be chosen per dish rather than rummaged for mid-shoot, and the angle follows the food's own shape: flat-lay for something spread across a plate, closer to side-on for height and layers. Agreeing the running order with whoever is cooking matters just as much — melting and wilting dishes first, sturdy ones last, so the kitchen isn't remaking a plate because the camera wasn't ready.
Light is the last thing to settle in advance. One window or one shaped source, placed behind or to the side, is what gives food texture; flat frontal light is what makes it look like a menu photograph from 2006. Mixed kitchen light is worth checking for specifically, since a colour cast nobody would notice on a landscape reads as unappetising on a plate — and a second portion, held back, is the only real insurance when the first one stops looking fresh.
A few things to plan for