Food photography

Between the two Canon cameras, I'd suggest the 550D because the flip out screen on the 600D seems unnecessary to me.  If you're shooting food in a studio then you could shoot tethered to really nail the focus on your computer monitor rather than the tiny little display on the back of the camera.

But ultimately, the camera itself is the least important part of this equation.  For food photography you need fresh ingredients, food styling skills (or a stylist), ability to control the light, and post production skills (like Photoshop).

If you're just blogging (as opposed to being in print) then you probably don't need to be so strict because the final image size will be smaller.

The Nikon will perform slightly better in low light... but for your work your goal should be to always shoot with lots of light at ISO 100 for minimal noise.

If one were to photograph food in the studio setting, any of the three cameras will do fine.  But what's more important for such a task is one's ability to control lighting as others have noted.  You'll need several sources of external, off-camera lighting sources depending on the situation to create a right balance of mood, texture, color, etc. 

On the other hand, if you are simply going to take photos of dishes in the restaurant as food critic/blogger, you may not even need a DSLR.  A good P&S camera with decent macro feature and good low light capability may be all you need for such task.  (Canon S95/S100, Panasonic LX-5/LX-7, Nikon P310, Sony DSC RX-100, Olympus XZ-1 to name a few)  And any of the aforementioned cameras are also good enough for general photography as well if you aren't strongly considering a DSLR.

If you have your heart set on a DSLR and want to do better food photopgaphy, you may also have to invest in a ring/macro flash and a macro lens in addition to a DSLR to achieve more professional looking result. 

As for the body, as I mentioned, all three will do a nice job.  If you are going to mount your camera on a tripod in a studio setting, the flip out screen can be a useful tool as on 600D.  D3200 is marginally smaller and ligher than either Canon models and the battery holds more shots per charge (540 vs. 440 shots); therefore, if I'm going to be on the road, I like Nikon better.  I suggest you check out all three for ergonomics and UI (user interface) to see which one feels best in you hands. 

600D all the way. Sensor is a bit better than on 550D and that flip out screen can help big time sometimes. Its not a big improvement from 550D but the flip out screen is a big advantage when taking some serious angle shots.

Forget about the camera and focus on the lighting setup, it's much more important.

A canon 550D with some good lenses and lighting equipment would be the best for you in my opinion. If you go for 600D, you may not have budget for lenses and other equipment and what you'll end up is getting an articulated lcd which is not of any use for you.

I would go with the Canon 600D, because it has a flash control built in, which will be important for food photography. I would suggest you invest in a good macro lens, our sister site LensHero.com can help you out with that. Then pick up a few flashes, that have E-TTL flash capability in order to fire off multiple flashes at the same time. 

First off, I would take the 550d over the 600d, because the huge price difference isn't really worth just a flip out screen, especially for your needs, maybe for video, but not as much for photos.

Great choice, the only difrence between 550d and 600d is the LCD detachablenscreen and the price on the 600d is much more

Digital rev has a rally voll Tutorial. They use 2 Ikea picture Frames with some blurry Papier and 2 Lights to light the Food. And Take the 550D. I got the 600D and would change ist for a 550 without asking, because i dont need the tilty-flippy-Screen.

I have taken a lot of food shots with my 60D - the flip out screen is great when the camera is on the tripod - and I love the 10x viewfinder zoom is superb for really sharp manual focusing. The image quality is superb. Have a look at the cakes section in BaliKidsParty.com to see some of my cake shots. ~Nick

Its a Decent Camera just right to be your first DSLR, my friend owns one and well i wont say trust me here, it works pretty well, get a macro lense and flashes as per your need. i dont believe in the megapixel race, the reproduction is almost similar to the D3200 i read here and there.

I would choose the Nikon over the Canons because it has more megapixels and better image quality overall. And if you are going to use it while traveling, then the better low light performance will be great for you. 

john has rightly pointed out the right points

it is more of a taste for brand than the manufacturer as both of them delivers similar results with little difference - under controlled lighting both wud give similar results

i use a Nikon however i suggest u check EOS650D aswell which is the newest device  same as d3200 is.

u can also consider D5100 too for the swivel screen which has a 1 notch advantage on low light which is better for shooting on the fly

It's easy to use and takes quick pictures.  

This camera is better... It has more lights than D3200

Nikon D5100 price, and very similar to D7000

the more MP the more details (high resolution) ....  that should be important with working "close photo"