INTERVIEW
Sharing photos of your meal, at home or in a restaurant, has become an increasingly common practice, especially on Instagram. More than 218 million photos have for example been published with the hashtag "Foodporn" on this social network. Invited Wednesday by Philippe Vandel, the chef of the Courtyard restaurant in Paris, Mélissa Ravel, and the chef of the cooking section of the online media The Women's Journal reveal their relationship to cooking on social networks, and tell us more about the place they occupy in the communication of restaurants.
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Recruited through his Instagram account
According to an Opinion way study published in 2019, 40% of French people would take a photo of their dish at a restaurant before they even tasted it. Some restaurants would even compose their menu according to their photogenic. For chefs as well as for food critics, social networks have become an essential means of communication. "For me, Instagram is a great showcase, which makes people want to come to the restaurant," explains Mélissa Ravel, chef at the Courtyard restaurant, who even claims to have been recruited through her Instagram account.
"Taste remains essential"
For Emilie Lesur, culinary journalist at the Journal des femmes , social networks represent "the best way to show your tastes, your culinary identity". On her Instagram account, Emilie Lesur shares with her subscribers photos of the dishes she enjoys in restaurants. But she also uses the social network to find good addresses. "To choose a brunch on Sunday, I'm going to go look at the hashtag 'BrunchàParis'. I choose first thanks to the photos, then I look at the reviews because the taste remains essential," confides Emilie Lesur.
"I build my plates like tables"
Mélissa Ravel has well understood the importance of social networks for her professional career. On her Instagram account, she shares photos of the dishes she prepares at the Courtyard, but also videos where she cooks, to show people behind the scenes of the restaurant. She even tells of being inspired by contemporary art to imagine the training of her dishes. "I often go to the George Pompidou Center in Paris, and I am inspired by artists like Paul Klee, Kandinsky or even Jackson Pollock", confides the young woman. "I build my plates like paintings. I look at them from above, like a work" she continues.
"Cooking is a complete art, both in taste but also in the visual. If you have the visual but not the taste, there is no point in the dish," says Mélissa Ravel.
"We think of the restaurant as an incentive to take photos"
There are even restaurants that only cook one trendy ingredient. This is the case with the lawyer, for example. A green, photogenic product. "Today, we think of the restaurant as an incentive to take photos," explains chef Mélissa Ravel, who also publishes many photos of octopus on her account. "Visually, it's very pretty. A beautiful well worked tentacle can be worth its weight in gold," jokes the young woman.