Gordon Ramsay: Chefs objecting to food photography is 'bloody pompous'
The chef was responding to reports that Michel Roux has asked diners to refrain from taking pictures at his three-Michelin-starred Bray restaurant The Waterside Inn.
“We put a card at the door saying ‘No photos, please,” Roux told the Daily Mail.
“A picture on a phone cannot possibly capture the flavours.”
In a series of tweets, Ramsay said chefs should welcome Instagrammers as a useful advertising tool.
“How bloody pompous! It’s a compliment to the chef the fact that customers want to take a picture of dishes they’ve paid for,” he wrote.
“[It’s] free promotion they should be grateful for, can you imagine being asked not to take a picture of Ed Sheeran singing?
“Customers vote with their feet, pictures create huge followers and excite potential business.
“It’s also a wake-up call to us chefs when we get it wrong!”
The chef even praised the Michelin Guide’s somewhat controversial use of its Twitter account.
He wrote: “The fact that even @MichelinGuideUK @guideMichelinFR are posting exciting pictures from their experiences is such a breath of fresh air...”
Food photography has proved divisive among chefs. French chef Alexandre Gauthier imposed an outright ban in his restaurant La Grenouillere in 2014, and high-end restaurants such as Thomas Keller’s Per Se and The Fat Duck also discourage flash photography.
Ramsay himself regularly posts pictures of food from his own restaurants, and critiques images of recipes from amateur cooks.
The outspoken chef has been hitting the headlines in the UK recently following the airing of his new ITV show Gordon Ramsay on Cocaine.
Speaking to the Radio Times to promote the series the chef said Brexit would be a 'big kick up the a**' for the restaurant industry. He added that an end to the 'influx' of EU workers would give homegrown talent a chance to shine.
The chef also came under criticism from fellow chef Neil Rankin after he stated in his ITV show that cocaine was an issue in the restaurant sector.
Speaking to BigHospitality Rankin branded him a 'terrible f**king ambassador for the industry' and argued that the problem in restaurants was no worse than other sectors such as fashion, finance or music.
