Foodstagrams have become trendy, but come on, you already knew that. Deciding which foodstagrams to follow can be an overwhelming task. You don’t want so much food that you are literally always famished when you open up Instagram, but you do want to salivate at an occasional Emack & Bolio’s cone or ramen burger.
That being said, these three Vanderbilt foodstagrams have become instafamous and if you don’t already follow them, you’re missing out. Note: quantity of followers is likely to change.
1. @fatpplproblems – Gabrielle Levitt and her sister, Alexa- 22.6k followers
Photo contributed by Gabrielle Levitt
Spoon: When did you start @fatpplproblems?
Gab: January 2014
Spoon: Why did you start it?
Gab: When I got into Vandy my sister and I thought it would be cool to do a food Instagram from New York and Nashville.
Spoon: How did you get so many followers?
Gab: We started accumulating followers when we were both home in New York and continued throughout the summer when we travelled to Italy. We told our friends about it and we follow other food accounts. Features can’t hurt either!
Spoon: What’s the best part about having a foodstagram account?
Gab: I have an excuse to order ridiculous things at restaurants.
Spoon: What advice do you have for aspiring foodstagrammers?
Gab: Come up with a unique idea. Choose a city, multiple cities or a certain type of cuisine.
2. @nashville_eats – Ari Richman, Marisa Goldstein, Allie Curwin, Shelly Feldman, Brittany Silver, Natalie Brown and Rose Winters- 7,137 followers
Spoon: When did you start @nashville_eats?
Nashville Eats: We started @nashville_eats during the first few weeks at Vanderbilt. We were sitting in Fido eating dinner (and taking pics of our food) and thought it would be fun to start a food account.
Spoon: Why did you start it?
Nashville Eats: We like taking pics of food and we’re big on social media. We also all had a ton of existing food pics that we thought we should put to good use.
Spoon: How did you get so many followers?
Nashville Eats: We started by following a bunch of random people that we knew, hoping that they would follow back. We also told all our home friends to follow us and get the word out.
Spoon: What’s the best part about having a foodstagram account?
Nashville Eats: It gives us an excuse to go out for good meals so that we can take food pics! It’s also a fun way to all keep in touch when we’re home on breaks because we’re constantly sending each other pics of our food.
Spoon: What advice do you have for aspiring foodstagrammers?
Nashville Eats: The lighting is key! If you’re in a dark restaurant, have someone else shine a flashlight over the food while you take the photo. Also don’t edit your pics too much with the chrome filter.
3. @nomcitybetch – Peaches Memishian, Posey Memishian, Kippy Ball, Sam Smith- 6,735 followers
Photo contributed by Peaches Memishian
Spoon: When did you start @nomcitybetch?
Posey: We started nomcity in junior year of high school, and by “we” I mean Peaches, Kippy, Sam and myself (Posey).
Spoon: Why did you start it?
Posey: We started it because our other friend was posting a lot of our own photos on her foodstagram and so one day (since all four of us LOVE food) we decided to make our own. At first, we kept it a secret and told all our friends from home that it was someone else’s account because we thought our friends would get mad… looking back at it, it was stupid. That didn’t last so long though, because when we eventually started getting more and more followers we couldn’t keep it a secret any more.
Spoon: How did you get so many followers?
Peaches: We knew if we wanted to gain followers we would really need to put in a lot of time and effort. This translated into posting three to four times a day, commenting and liking on a lot of other foodstagrams’ pictures and taking a lot more food photos.
Spoon: What’s the best part about having a foodstagram account?
Peaches: I think the best part about foodstagrams is that there is a general sense of community (sounds so cheesy). But everyone who has a foodstagram shares the same passion, which is obviously food and everything about food. Another great part is that you always know of somewhere to eat. Since foodstagrams span all over the nation and the world, you can always find a restaurant in a city that another foodie had Instagrammed. You are also always kept up to date with the latest and greatest food creation, like the cronut, the cruffin or the cookie shot.
Spoon: What advice do you have for aspiring foodstagrammers?
Peaches: You need to put a lot of time and effort into it. Also, it should always be something that you do because you love to do it. If you actually enjoy taking the photos, editing them, and posting them, your foodstagram will be an automatic success.