Chefs live a love-hate relationship with food influencers

Have you ever heard of Ana Carolina Soares and José Luiz Soares? You might not link people’s names, but the couple in front of the @dopaoaocaviar Instagram profile accumulates 534,000 followers, who don’t miss a post about the recipes they cook at home or the restaurants and hotels they visit.

And Ian Oliver, do you know who he is? Graduated in Letters, pre-university course teacher and student at Le Cordon Bleu São Paulo cooking school, he is the almost anonymous person behind the @ocritico.antigourmet profile, with 49,800 followers.

There is also Julio Bernardo, from @botecodojb, whose profile has 80,700 followers and has become a thorn in the side of many chefs and restaurant owners in São Paulo.

This group, along with other influential profiles, such as @teddys_favorites (471 thousand followers), @gordoprofissional (226 thousand), @gaspaindica (211 thousand) and @boccanervosa (56 thousand), is the new face of a profession that has changed from water to wine in recent years: the food critic.

They also spend their lives eating in restaurants and reporting their experiences, which influences the public that looks for references when deciding where to have lunch or dinner. Like the deans of the profession, they can gain disaffection with their not always sympathetic comments – although some of them limit themselves to praising what they like, without ever pointing out problems publicly.

But the similarities stop there.

With more freedom to establish their own criteria, they maintain very close relationships with their audience, which in social media jargon has come to be called engagement. But it’s not just about accumulating likes and comments.

When the post is positive, the owners of establishments are quick to register fuller rooms and dishes raised to the status of best sellers – a cause and effect relationship that, not so long ago, was exclusive to reviews published in traditional media outlets. .

The relationship between chefs and new critics is one of love and hate. “Social networks helped me a lot, I reached a place I never imagined I would be so quickly. At the same time, I deal with people who say what they want, how they want,” says Luiz Filipe, chef at the Evvai restaurant.

“Positive reviews massage the ego, but I don’t let the negative ones make me sleepy. These critics formed by themselves have great reach, but I don’t care,” retorts Renato Carioni, a partner at the Così restaurant.

“In the past, we only had the work analyzed by Luiz Américo Camargo [ex-crítico do jornal O Estado de São Paulo], by Josimar Melo [crítico da Folha], by Arnaldo Lorençato [crítico da Veja São Paulo]. We were happy and we didn’t know. The criticisms were constructive, they helped us improve. Today there are people causing turmoil on Instagram because they are waiting in line”, chirps chef Janaína Rueda, partner at the restaurant A Casa do Porco.

Few influencers accumulate as many enmities –and lawsuits– as Julio Bernardo. Chef at Tujuína, Ivan Ralston says that @botecodojb’s posts went from praise to scathing criticism without him understanding why.

“JB started to defame me, to consider me the worst in Brazil, without ever returning to the restaurant. It’s a disservice to gastronomy and there are those who believe in the guy.”

Aware of the fame he carries, Bernardo admits that he has lost count of the places where he became persona non grata. But he warns: he doesn’t consider himself a critic, but a chronicler. “I only ended up known this way because my thinking was always critical, but I’m not going to be adjective tax. Call me whatever you want”, he says, with the acidity that has become the identity of his texts.

Old-school professionals also view this new competition with reservations. For critic Ailin Aleixo, who started her career in magazines, migrated to the internet with the blog Gastrolândia and is now on TV, as a judge on the reality show Top Chef Brasil, on Record, most influencers write about the subject to eat for free.

“Not everyone who eats is able to talk about food. There’s a big difference between being critical and giving an opinion.”

With 14 years of experience as a critic of the extinct Guia 4Rodas, which was notable for its strict criteria in the evaluation of restaurants across the country, journalist Ricardo Castanho recalls that the anonymity of the evaluators was non-negotiable.

“If we were known, we would give the restaurant a chance to prepare something above the average. Anonymity is essential to evaluate a restaurant in its normal service and food quality”, he defends.

In the era of cellphone cameras always in hand, anonymity became a utopia. Ian Oliver does not display photo or name on profile @ocritico.antigourmet. Still, it’s been debunked — and its acid texts, which usually end in grades from zero to ten, don’t help make it popular with chefs and restaurant owners.

“I’ve already canceled my reservation because they found out who I was, amazing how insecure some chefs are.”

The fact is that, despite the risks, anyone who wants to be relevant in the catering industry can no longer ignore digital influencers. They have the power to fill halls, but also to wreak havoc.

A partner at the Documennta agency, which manages the social networks of several restaurants, including A Casa do Porco, Maria Vargas says that being in the 50 Best ranking, as the 17th best in the world, does not exempt the Rueda house from online gossip.

“We respond politely to ordinary criticisms, try to understand what happened. But an aggressive post can generate a huge crisis, because everyone is sharing and soon falls on WhatsApp. We spend all our time managing customer crises, all in real time.”

Even traditional gastronomic awards, such as the coveted stars conferred by the Michelin Guide and the international 50 Best ranking, already seem to have less reach than the influencers.

This is the opinion of Rosa Moraes, current president of the World 50 Best academy for Brazil.

“Many people still do gastronomic tourism guided by the Michelin and the 50 Best, and the traditional media is still very relevant for a slice of the public, especially the older ones. But I think that social networks have even more reach. There are restaurants that have already dispensed with the PR professional and just keeps a neat Instagram profile.”

Despite the attention that social networks demand, businesswoman Deni Bloch, responsible for social media at several restaurants, including Tujuína, thinks it is positive that criticism is more fragmented.

“Influencers are the new media, there’s no way. And it’s okay for the public to like these guys. They might not be critical, so what?”