Photos, photos, photos... everywhere!
The gastronomy has become (who was going to tell us) one of the great themes of Instagram : the social network that has replaced Twitter and Facebook in that brittle hierarchy of 'where to be', not so long ago The Guardian published that one in five Britons uploaded a gastronomic photograph to Instagram; without going any further, the hashtag #foodporn accumulates today 136,252,973 publications (#instafood 95,662,019) but you don't have to go that far: there are 1,538,546 paellas staged and more of 28 million pizzas . how we like Pizza .
Two slightly drastic examples: Salt Bae , the Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe and his (I really don't understand anything anymore) gastronomic meme that has already reached Narcos or David Muñoz's octopus semen. Bombs, bombs. But we are not interested (today) in the stars or the spotlights, but the daily life of so many ordinary chefs who see Instagram as the perfect showcase where they can attract the attention of foodies and gourmets —and of course, foodies and gourmets who see the social network of 800 million users as the perfect showcase where to show off Grimod de La Reynière. Look how smart you are, Mark Zuckerberg.
The consequences of this vaudeville are as surprising as, on the other hand, logical. Restaurants designed to be Instagram meat and dishes with an aesthetic component whose destination is not (only) the eye of the customer: it is the fucking planet.
The truth: I was surprised by the sincerity (without hot cloths) of Ricard Trench Y Sandra Tarruella in our first approach to the cuqui universe of online photography, How Instagram is changing restaurant design : “yes, we have added some more eye-catching points in some projects to complement the business concept and that in the end have become key elements for be photographed and shared on networks”. Because it is one thing to do it and quite another to admit it; and that's the way things are: designers designing with Instagram in mind. Does the same thing happen with cooks?
Cuquismo at the table?
Alberto Ferruz , two Michelin stars in BonAmb , it is quite clear: no. “From my point of view with social networks are affecting the surprise effect when visiting a restaurant , since more than eighty percent of the people who come to eat have already seen practically the entire menu, so I don't think it makes much sense to cook to make the dishes look good".
One of the chefs whose obsession with aesthetics stands out the most is Paco Morales , soul of Noor and one of our most admired totems of the well understood avant-garde: “In our case, since the time of Bocairent, we have always made dishes with a common denominator phenomenon, beauty. On the other hand, at Noor we have created a code unconsciously where you look at our plating, tableware, etc. with a new and highly identifying language of the Noor style”. His transfer to the Instagram universe is called #eathistory and it's wonderful.
I also speak with the photographic part of this gale. She is Martha Sanahuja , author of Delicious Martha ( the Spanish gastronomic influencer with the most followers on the net ) . “In my opinion, the fact that restaurants are being conditioned by whether they are more or less photographable is quite complicated. On the one hand, and in terms of the environment, I understand that the restaurant would have to be conformed following some lines, and transmitting its essence, the message you want to send . I imagine, then, that if a restaurant is intimate, quiet and dimly lit, it won't stop being that way, nor will it put some big spotlights so that the photos come out better and brighter. At least it wouldn't have to be that way. In a certain way, the user (the instagramer) would have to adapt to it and also transmit the essence of it".
Do we live for the photo?
"In reference to the dishes -continues Martha Sanahuja -the most important thing is that the chef presents his work without being biased. Not because the dish is going to be portrayed would have to change its presentation. Because, for example, it could be the case that the chef made his biggest plating, and it just fell into the hands of a lousy photographer. The plate would be ugly, distorted, and who would blame it? If the chef wants to make a beautiful dish (which I think in most cases it should be), I don't think it should be conditioned by whether the dish will finally be portrayed on a social network”.
The truth is that the little scene of photographing each dish bores me more and more, because life happens at the table, never through a lens, much less in a handful of likes . Maybe it's not such a bad idea to go back to La Reynière's Grimod , the first gastronome: The motto of the true 'gourmand' is that of the old Michel de Montaigne: " My job is the art of living well ”.
Pumpkin pickle at BonAmb