“In April 2020, I challenged the President of the Republic on Instagram, remembers Michel Sarran. The video made more than 200,000 views, and I found myself invited to a videoconference with the Elysee on post-containment restoration. It’s crazy the importance that this social network has taken. “ The 59-year-old Toulouse chef may well master the tool – with 307,000 subscribers and posts as regular as they are pleasant – he remains surprised by his strike force.
In a few years, Instagram has experienced a meteoric rise in French gastronomy: it has become essential for cooks and even the most resistant have converted to it. A position further strengthened since the closure of restaurants and confinements.
“Everyone does the same thing at the same time, some time ago, it was the fashion for pie, now it’s custards”, deplores Alexandre Gauthier, two-star chef.
Yet just eight years ago the situation was very different. “I launched a social media department in 2012, remembers Clarisse Ferreres-Frechon, who runs the Melchior culinary communication agency. At the time, my clients considered that “social media manager”, it was not a profession. They didn’t want to pay for a service that their “little cousin was able to handle.”. “ Until around 2015, the use of Instagram remained marginal and artisanal, confined to young cooks posting photos of their dishes.
Throughout the 2010s, the success of cooking shows brought chefs out of their restaurants and transformed them into public figures. The general public feeds a curiosity for Jean Imbert, Philippe Etchebest or Hélène Darroze, who have become opinion leaders – just like certain actors or sportsmen. In their wake, even the most discreet catch a little light and see their community grow on Instagram. This new status pushes them to express themselves on subjects other than cooking.
“I started my account in 2012, says Juan Arbelaez, 33-year-old chef with 301,000 subscribers. At the beginning, it was really a professional tool, with pictures of the plates. Over time, I showed my hobbies, a workout, the morning coffee, a restaurant that I liked. I realized that people, very receptive, wanted to know more about me. “
At the end of 2016, the appearance on Instagram of “storys”, short videos with a lifespan of twenty-four hours (while the photo gallery does not disappear) marks an additional step in the diversification of content: ephemeral disinhibits the cooks, who increasingly put themselves on the scene.
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