Instagram is a gold mine of inspiration for chefs. A space to promote and share creations. Gather ideas, and keep up with trends. Few of us could have predicted the popularity and influence of posting #foodporn way back in October 2010, when Instagram was launched. Since then, the world of culinary marketing and information sharing has been revolutionised by the post, reel, double tap.
Check out this ‘insta’ list of gastronomic geniuses to learn more about food, providence, and spectacular creations.
@bjornfrantzen 335K Björn Frantzén, the Swedish chef best-known for his three-Michelin-starred restaurants Frantzén (Stockholm) and Zén (Singapore) is an Instagram heavyweight. Post after post are high-calibre culinary punches: a Japanese Kimura glass ensemble topped with fresh Icelandic wasabi; birch wood and sakura honey fired on a binchotan grill; the planned opening of another flagship in Harrods London.
Pictured is croustade with stracciatella di buffalo, grilled sticky beetroot, sancho pepper oil, 100-year-old balsamic vinegar, shiso and grapefruit.
@danielhumm 601K Daniel Humm is a trailblazer within the plant-based future of fine dining. Daniel uses food and his three-star Michelin restaurant Eleven Madison Park
to challenge views about meat-production carbon emissions and food insecurity. His mission is to make plant-based food delicious, magical, and luxurious, while creating more equitable food systems. Daniel has filled his Instagram feed with behind-the-scenes glimpses of the crops growing at his Magic Farms, speaking at the UN and his fully plant-based menu.
This post is centred around a whole-roasted Kabocha Squash with sides of butternut squash soup. beets, pear, & hazelnut.
@magnusfaviken 289K Magnus Nilsson is head chef at Fäviken in Sweden. A quick scroll through his Insta will have you hankering for a forage in the Swedish wilderness. There he finds pine and morel mushrooms, grouse, and wild raspberries. Magnus, author and food philosopher, is co-chair of the Food Planet Prize aiming for a resilient food system.
Here is a recent dedication: ‘Dear cauliflower. I am going to roast you whole in a pot, together with butter, garlic and thyme.’
@dominiquecrenn 337K Dominique Crenn’s Instagram bio advises us to use your platform to better this world, humanity, and Mother Earth. Dominique is unparalleled in her artistry of imaginative French gastronomy and lives by her ode ‘poetic culinaria’ at her three-star San Francisco restaurant Atelier Crenn.
Follow her behind-the-scenes lair which showcases creations such as this ‘Japanese flower’ made from Hōjicha, matcha, seeds and grains, accompanied with regal dragon’s beard ‘dumpling’.
@reneredzepinoma 1M Noma Restaurant’s Rene Redzepi posts are a Instagram masterclass for chefs. They alternate between ingredient delights, plated perfection, and Danish nature shots. Shots of tea from beeswax, sea ham (ham from tuna) and a pine tree full of pollen make his feed look like a glossy nature mag. If you scroll back there are memories of Indigenous ingredients from Australia, when Noma held a 10-week pop-up in Barangaroo NSW.
Pictured is an octopus that Rene simmered in black garlic
@pialeonkjolle 101K Pia Leon at Kjolle Peru known as Latin America’s Best Female Chef. The Peruvian runs three Restaurants in Peru together with her husband Virgilio Martínez
and was winner of 2021 The World’s Best Female Chef award. Pia’s cuisine in a single word: colourful.
Pia posted a tribute along with a bounty of indigenous root vegetables: ‘We will continue to pursue the goal of showcasing all our territory has to offer.’
@virgiliocentral 299k Virgilio Martinez is a Peruvian chef and restaurateur married to Pia Leon. Virgilio has taken Peruvian gastronomy to the world by showcasing the ingredients and culinary culture of his heritage. He shows the importance of geography and altitude on indigenous produce such as potatoes grown at 5,000 meters above sea level, wild varieties of kiwicha and quinoa and more than 100 types of salt.
Pictured: de un ecosistema ‘Agua de Altura’ a 1400 m.s.n.m (metros sobre el nivel del mar) ‘high altitude water’ of the ecosystem, at 1400 meters above sea level
@andydoubrava 37.4K Andy Doubrava a Michelin-starred chef who is executive chef at ‘neighbourhood’ restaurant Rustic Canyon, this man is a considered a wizard when it comes to food creativity. A classically trained drummer Andy likens cooking to jazz. It’s all about layers. If you don’t follow him on the gram you are missing out.
One of Andy’s temptations: sweet & spicy Hinona Kabu turnips that he gently poached in fennel consommé, marinated in a salty paste of sweet potato and Carolina Gold koji then, grilled over our sophisticated charcoal hearth. Sauced with a whippy fondue of good milk, Mimolette, and smoked garlic, sprinkled with badger flame beets, white balsamic and Nduja spice.
@benshewry 123K One of Australia’s most acclaimed chefs is Ben Shewry of Attica. He has risen to international recognition because of his desire to promote and share Indigenous Australian ingredients and acknowledge Indigenous cultures in his recipes. Shewry is passionate about the richness of the oldest existing human culture and their culinary knowledge, which is intimately connected to Country.
Pictured is Wild Country a finger lime, crème brûlée custard and burnt milk pastry tart.
@mrniland 255K Josh Niland is the seafood whisperer. Or king. He thrills his Insta and Saint Peter fans with close ups of mouth-watering seafood dishes and butchery ventures. It’s sea creature eye candy with every swipe. Greenback Flounder, Murray Cod Chashu, Clyde River Pacific Oyster, Long Spine Sea Urchin, every image an inspiration and promotion of the ocean’s bounty.
This feast for the eyes is salt & vinegar blue mackerel out of Ulladulla.
@jobarrett 29.1K Acclaimed Melbourne chef Jo Barrett strives to minimise waste and uses imaginative techniques to get the most from every ingredient. In 2020, Jo and partner and chef Matt Stone moved to the Greenhouse 5.0, a one hundred percent sustainable modern urban farm in Federation Square that aims for zero waste and grows everything the two eat. The farm includes vertical gardens, a mushroom wall, a rooftop vegetable patch and aquaponics with Mussels, yabbies, and barramundi.
Pictured is a harvest of contorted and tangled purple carrots from the rooftop garden, destined for the pot.