A recipe for success: we test the kit that promises Instagram success

Nothing tastes as good as social media success feels —  Samuel Fishwick puts a new kit for making meals go viral to the test
Master of pasta: Samuel Fishwick with the kit
Daniel Hambury/@stellapicsltd

The best photos of dinners on Instagram resemble Dutch Masters still-life compositions. Mine look like a child’s Play-Doh disaster. I have spent the past 20 minutes trying to coax my ricotta salata cheese into melting alluringly atop a plate of aubergine parmigiana tortelloni, and have resorted to a hair dryer, which, even on its lowest setting, keeps asthmatically puffing my fresh basil off the plate, pathetically. This #Instafood business is not everyone’s natural habitat.

Yet it undoubtedly is big business. Skye Gyngell, the Michelin-starred chef running Spring restaurant at Somerset House, and Italian pasta company La Famiglia Rana, have spotted a gap in the market for the aesthetically challenged eater and jointly created the first ingredient kit for Instagram. The kits will be a featured product at La Famiglia Rana’s Instagram-inspired grocery, opening in London next month in Marylebone. Which is, at the very least, a curiosity worth exploring. Some are born to Instagram (longer arms, better peripheral vision), but everyone has Instagram thrust upon them.

That the contents of the boxes include “the most Instagrammable ingredients, accessories, garnishes, dinnerware and even assembly instructions required” might sound a little hard to swallow — but the elongated datterini tomatoes, marjoram leaves and fresh mint I unbox should appeal to every urbanite’s inner biophile. It’s a fresh take.

This photo received 13 Likes

“The world’s obsession with photographing its food has fuelled a rise in all sorts of odd-but-edible inventions, turned humble vegetables into mega-trends, transformed restaurant diners into paparazzi and inspired home chefs to spread their wings”, says Gyngell.

“I think what Instagram has done for food is great. Anything that puts beautiful ingredients on a pedestal, or inspires people to be adventurous and creative — and proud of what they’ve prepared — is a wonderful thing.” Ever the adventurer, I’ve opted for a simple dish — tortelloni, basil and ricotta salata. Gyngell’s plating tips are included in the kit. Don’t overcrowd your plate — fewer tortelloni will look “more appealing” and allow you to be “more precise and reactive with your placement”.

This photo received 14 Likes

Drizzle “hero ingredients” in small quantities slowly over time to “achieve a clean look”, keep back a key ingredient such as sage to add at the end for “extra vibrancy and freshness”, work with “framing fundamentals”, accessorising with a “glass of wine, or complementary elements” (if you’ve used walnuts, scatter a few nut shells, Gyngell suggests).

This photo received 20 Likes

However, something is rotten in the state of my plate. The cheese is not grated finely enough, owing to a clown-sized grater (blame the tools), and the basil is clumping.

Desperate to share my pasta with the world, I hunt for a more appealing background. Out comes my Argos-bought eggshell-blue ironing board. The cheese still won’t melt, so out comes the hair dryer. Mouthfuls of delicious aubergine-stuffed pasta should be a reward, here. But I’ve been faffing for too long. The dish is cold, yet it goes up on Instagram anyway. I release six pics into the ether, like a cat offering up a dead bird to its human. They’ve got about 16 likes each. “Are you having a breakdown?”, a friend asks. Perhaps. But at least I’ve got their attention.

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