Top French Chefs: Let's Stop Food Porn

They ask diners to stop photographing, start eating
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 15, 2014 4:09 PM CST
Top French Chefs: Let's Stop Food Porn
   (Shutterstock)

Food porn—the incessant taking and sharing of photos of meals—has been around for a while now, as have complaints against it, notes the Eater blog. But a story by Francetv info and AFP is catching some attention because it features two top chefs, from France no less, who are pleading with people to put their phones away. (The story is here, but in French.) Gilles Goujon, who runs the three-star L'Auberge du Vieux Puits, says people who post photos "ruin the surprise" for subsequent diners, reports France24. He also complains that the photos are crimping on his "intellectual property," notes the BBC. And just for good measure, he carps that smartphone photos "are rarely good."

Alexandre Gauthier of La Grenouillère, meanwhile, thinks the photo-taking detracts from the dining experience. And what's worse, "the food is cold." He has added a no-camera logo to his menu, though it's not exactly enforced. “Photos are not banned, but I want them to question it." Goujon says he's working up some kind of tactful message for his menu as well. All the stories sound a note of skepticism about whether the anti-food-porn message will take hold, however. As David Toutain, another Parisian chef, puts it, "I think social networks helped me at the start of my career and still help me. It is advertising for us." (More top chefs stories.)

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