For the love of foodstagram (Part 1)

Foodstagram: An Instagram page devoted to food.

Remember back in 2014-2015 or maybe even earlier when everyone was obsessed with taking pictures of their food, birthing the phrase “Camera eats first”? Photos of perfectly plated dishes and what seemed like over-complicated drinks plagued our feed every time we logged onto Instagram and Tumblr. 

Food blogging has always been a huge phenomenon and with the rise of social media platforms, the practice has become more accessible for people like you and me – as in university students and those in their 20's – to participate in, which means that we see a lot more casual and “real” food from these foodies.

The first food blogger I stumbled upon (which ultimately led to my current fixation on food and visuals) was Clementine Day of Some Things I Like to Cook. Just scrolling through her Instagram right now makes me want to hit Coles and start cooking up a storm in my kitchen. In an interview with Daily Good, she says, “Food should be fun!” and that’s exactly what these new breed of food bloggers has taught me recently – to have fun making food, to have fun eating food and to have fun connecting through food. She makes experimenting with your food fun. As a person who is new to the cooking world, modifying existing or coming up with new recipes can be scary because I’m afraid that it’ll end up tasting horrible to the point where I can’t eat it. 

And I suppose that fear of mine is valid and resonates deeply with many people because no one wants to spend hours cooking only to throw it out the next minute because it tastes bad. As a university student, I can’t afford to be wasting my money and time like that. So my version of experimentation is to expand my menu and tastebuds. It’s time I retire from repeatedly making egg fried rice and mi goreng for every meal. Seeing all these foodstagrammers posting about the food they make has inspired me to try out different dishes and cuisines from different cultures around Australia and the world. One of my favourite new dishes to cook is Hawaiian garlic shrimp.

Since a lot of the food bloggers I follow are students like me, I love taking inspiration from the modified versions of their local cuisine. As a Malaysian, I know how complicated it can be when it comes to cooking our food and I’m sure it’s the same (if not more) for other delicacies around the world as well. So it’s always motivating to look at a traditionally complicated dish and go, “Hey, I think I can actually try to make this version of it!” – they’ve opened me up to a whole new world of cooking, a very accessible one.

OK, I’ve got a lot to say about my love for food blogs, so I’ll see you in part 2!