Attempting a “rant” for a few reasons. The two main reasons are: practising actually writing things, and because I’ve been reading articles about influencers and “Instagram-worthy” cafes/restaurants.

Today I read an article about how chefs feel about Instagram, and how a fair few actually now have presentation at the forefront of their minds when creating menus.  They commented that they’ve received feedback that customers would see their dish online and that’s how they chose whether or not to go to a restaurant, or, upon receiving a menu, would check Instagram for how the dishes looked, before deciding what to eat. Then I stumbled across a post where a cafe had a tagline of having “Instagrammable interiors”. Then there’s also a restaurant critic’s humorous posts about “influencers who ask for free stuff”.

Really?

I love being a hypocrite. I really do, and I think it’s human nature. I love sometimes feeling superficial and ordering a milk coffee simply because I want some pretty latte art. I like seeing pretty food at cafes and restaurants. I like making stupidly pretty food too.

I also avoid spoilers (I didn’t actively look for reviews and pictures in anticipation of Noma Australia, or Attica. I’m also not researching the big-name restaurants I’ve planned to book this year) where I can because I want to be surprised and really get to know a place by living it instead of just seeing it. I still love talking to waitstaff and baristas because you get great info that way. I love reading menus and imagining what the flavours and textures look like. I don’t want to know what it looks like most of the time. I just hope it’s nicely presented.

There’s always going to be a group of influencers who get stuff for free, and maybe even get special plating for their food. But for chefs to almost need to make their dishes instagrammable just so that their restaurants can fill tables? I appreciate that it’s a good move for restaurants to stay alive, but it sounds more and more like restaurants are being pressured to make pretty food or no one will go. That’s kind of sad.

Maybe I should start up an exercise in writing about stuff instead of taking pictures. I guess that’s what restaurant critics do, and sounds like a major challenge, especially in this day and age! But I like taking pictures. Maybe that’s why magazines like Drift exist? Recipe books are pretty picture-heavy too, but the last one I read, A Very Serious Cookbook, was super enjoyable because it talked about the history of the chefs of Contra/Wildair and how they interacted with each other, and how their restaurants evolved. That was the really exciting stuff!

I guess I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, enjoying the best of both the digital and non digital worlds :D

YAY rant over