Bonding over food has gone to a whole new level among city food enthusiasts who are utilising Instagram, a free online photo and video sharing platform, to post vivid and mouth-watering gastronomic experiences.
Food enthusiasts including reviewers, bloggers, chefs etc came together for a first of a kind meet here -- Delhi Foodies Insta Meet held yesterday at the Cha Bar, a coffee shop nestled inside the Oxford Bookstore in central Delhi.
"The idea was to meet and get to know each other and make it an event. While 'instameets' of this kind are very popular internationally here it is kind of a novelty," says Roma Malhotra who organised the first #DelhiFoodiesInstaMeet.
A total of 28 food lovers participated in the first meet, using the occasion to familiarise themselves with people whom they had known only by their handles, besides offering advice and feedback with one another.
Some even used the platform to bounce off ideas to make the event bigger and spread its reach by roping in sponsors.
While the culture of "foodgramming" i.E. Posting pictures of favourite meals has taken off, various restaurants and eateries have used it to their advantage by inviting bloggers and instagrammer for special food tasting sessions in return for a review.
"We believe that the reputation of the industry is getting tarnished because if you have a decent number of followers on your blog of instagram, you are invited to these chef's tables and various restaurants to review their new offerings and are expected to write a positive review," says Malhotra.
Malhotra says she wants the passion of the foodies to remain alive and not get drowned in the market of fancy and upscale restaurants.
"We tied up with Indiameets, a popular handle that aims to popularise instameets of various kinds. All of us are foodgrammers and some of us just dont write on food but also on fashion and beauty too but we are all passionate about food," says Malhotra.
Malhotra who is also a blogger says the meet threw up ideas to make the event bigger, with some suggesting the formation of a YouTube channel.
"Somebody wanted to do a YouTube channel with quick 20 second videos of places in Delhi associated with food. Maybe in the near future it will turn into a reality where participants will be able to upload information of say for example the hidden food gems in Chandni Chowk," says Malhotra.
