The most common tags on Instagram are food-related. Food and Instagram are a match made in heaven (or in a kitchen), and it’s now common to spot diners and café goers snapping a quick photo of their food. I’ve done it on occasion, when I wanted to mark the occasion.
Chefs, food writers, and food lovers are playing along, and while some photos go horribly wrong — you’ve all seen the photos of delicious meals that resemble congealed fish chum — there are many Instagrammers taking drool-worthy photos.
Here’s my roundup of ten food Instagram accounts you’ll want to follow, if you don’t already:
If you haven’t read David Lebovitz’s book, The Sweet Life In Paris, go buy it now. Seriously, go. His account of life in the City of Lights is funny, observant, and includes recipes. Lebovitz’s Instagram account delivers the same. You’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at his life — dirty dishes and all — and some of his favourite food and travel haunts.
Follow Toronto food writer, Mardi from Eat Live Travel Write, for a look inside her cooking school for young chefs, beautiful photos of her travels, and a lot of delicious food. Not only does she share photos of what she cooks and the foods she tries, but you can also count on her Instagram mini posts to reflect her genuine opinion.
All I know about the Kaffelab feed based out of Oslo is that it’s about coffee and that makes it a necessary inclusion on this list. Funky photos, quirky humour, and did I mention coffee?
This one is pure photographic decadence, and the photos are all (or almost all) taken by her photographer husband, Oddur Thorisson. Mimi is a food blogger, the host of a televised cooking show in France, and has a book coming out in the fall of 2014. Thorisson and her family live in a large house in the countryside of the Médoc region, so fair warning, you might get lost in the photos.
Rick Poon’s feed is made up more of travel photos than food, but those two go hand in hand. Poon is a San Francisco-based photographer who is (self-proclaimed) obsessed with food, travel, and design, and his photos reflect that. They’re beautifully shot and you’ll want to jet off to wherever he’s been, sit at the same table, enjoy the view, and taste what he’s eaten.
Another Canadian, Jennifer Bartoli, is a food specialist for one of Canada’s top magazines — Canadian Living — who also writes the blog Chocolate Shavings. I like her for that name alone. Her photos show beautiful food that anyone can make at home, the trips she takes, and feature Alaska, a cat with attitude.
A nutritional therapist from Sweden who lives in Ireland, Linn Thorstensson, made changes to her lifestyle, found a career, and now shares how she’s learned to live and prepare food using simple ingredients. Her photos on Straightforward_Nutrition are soft and appealing, and the focus is on food and positive encouragement.
Careynotcarrie is the Instagram feed for food blogger Carey of Reclaiming Provincial. There’s nothing fussy about her photos or her cooking, and she shoots in beautiful light. Carey has wide-ranging culinary interests and is deeply invested in eating local, in her case, Vermont.
If beautiful landscapes and mouth-watering vegetarian dishes are your thing, then you need to follow Linda Hyldal. I drooled looking at a photo of a zucchini, feta, and rosemary pizza.
Joann Pai is a Vancouver-based food and lifestyle photographer, and I dare you not to love her Instagram feed, Slice of Pai. The colours are lush, the settings gorgeous, and yet the photos leave the viewer inspired and not overwhelmed.
Do you have a favourite food Instagram account? Let me know in the comments and stop by JackStrawLane to say hi.
Check out Melissa Gaston’s post about which professional photographers to follow on Instagram.
Are you an Instagram newbie? Telling a story with pictures is easier than you think!
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