We all can admit we spend a lot of time scrolling over the refresh button on instagram. Even more, we all can admit the pictures we stop at, the ones that catch our eye as we glance over the wide range of photos are the pictures that feature food. From cheesy pizza to warm chocolate chip cookies, to a juicy burger and crispy fries, snapshots of decadent, mouth-watering dishes beyond our belief are the true stars of our instagram feeds. Lissie Shubin is a freshman from Philadelphia who created a food instagram account that has reached 23 thousand followers! Her account, food_ilysm makes us drool over every picture! A picture’s worth a thousand words? Or a picture’s worth a thousand calories?
1. Tell us about your instagram.
I run a food instagram, with my best friend from home, called food_ilsym. Currently we are approaching 23 thousand followers! We have a wide variety of pictures everyday but we always post breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert foods so we have pictures at all times of the day.
2. What inspired you to start food_ilysm?
I’ve always love food so much. I’m a serious foodie. And last spring I visited Barcelona and Madrid and just had so many good food pictures from my vacation that needed to be seen! And my friend, who I run it with, is also a big foodie so we just decided it would be fun to start it together.
3. How did food_ilysm start to get so popular?
Originally we didn’t even tell any of our friends about it because we wanted it to get 1000 followers before telling them, so I honestly don’t know how it got so popular. People tag their friends in posts and those friends start to tag their friends in new posts and eventually everyone began to see it.
4. How many of the pictures you post are foods you’ve actually eaten?
Probably around 100 between the two of us.
5. About how many picture submissions do you get a week?
A lot of people direct message us pictures or hashtag “#foodilysm” and tag us in their pictures, so between the hashtags, direct messages, and tags we probably get around 500 submissions a week.
6. How do you choose the pictures you post?
We look for pictures that are good quality, clear, and make you want to go get that food right now. An extremely cheesy slice of pizza will draw more attention than a hot dog. Pizza and pasta always does really well with likes and comments so we definitely post a lot of that.
7. What’s the key to taking a good food picture?
Honestly, I’m not even that good at taking good pictures of food, but when I do, I try to get a good angle that’s close up but shows a majority of the food. I think close up pictures are better because they show the details that make your mouth water.
8. What are your favorite foods? If you had to choose three last meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, what would they be?
My favorite foods are chocolate and cheese.
Breakfast: Bacon, egg, and cheese
Lunch: Turkey, mozzarella, avocado, and chipotle mayo Panini with well-done fries
Dinner: Gnocchi in a creamy Gorgonzola sauce
Dessert: Chocolate lava cake with mint-chocolate chip ice cream on the side
9. How has running such a popular instagram page affected your life? Do people ever ask you about it, or know you by your instagram?
I think it’s really cool when people are like “No way, YOURE food_ilysm?” I like when people follow my account before I become friends with them. Its really crazy how people know about it before we even meet. I was at dinner for my friends birthday last week with a bunch of her friends that I don’t know, and I hear them talking about food_ilysm and I was like “OMG that’s me!!!!” Its just really exciting having people talk about something that I run.
10. Besides your own, do you follow other food instagrams? Which are your favorites?
Yes of course!! Sometimes we even post each other to promote each others food accounts. Out of the ones I follow my favorites are @foodintheair, @everything_bagels, and @philadelphiafoodie.
So whether it is breakfast, lunch, or dinner make sure you get the right angle and lighting, that close-up shot of your meal, and send it into food_ilysm! Let’s get her to 30 thousand followers!