The Telegraph has reported Alain Roux as saying he has got so fed up with people snapping pictures of their food at The Waterside Inn it’s led to the chef putting a sign outside prohibiting diners from taking photos.
Alain Roux was quoted in The Telegraph as saying, “I’m really getting so upset about people taking pictures. We put up a card at the door - ‘No photos, please.’”
Alain Roux
According to the Telegraph the French chef told The Daily Mail: “What are they doing? Maybe once during the meal you want to take a little photo of something because it’s unusual. But what about the flavours?
“A picture on a phone cannot possibly capture the flavours.”
At the family’s other fine dining establishment, Le Gavroche, where Michel Roux Jr is in charge of the restaurant, the attitude towards the use of cameras at the dinner table is more relaxed.
According to The Telegraph, last year Michel Roux Jr was quoted as saying: “If someone’s phone goes off, we look at them as if to say, ‘Switch that off or it goes in the ice bucket.’”
But added: “I don’t mind people taking pictures. I’ve been known to do it myself.”
Alain took over as chef patron of The Waterside Inn from his father, Michel Roux in 2002. It remains the only restaurant outside of France to hold three Michelin stars for 25 years and is only one of four in the UK to hold three stars which includes Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck; Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester; Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea and the Araki which is new to the list year after being promoted from two to three stars at the live launch in October.
The Araki is another restaurant that is happy to allow customers to take photos of their food granted it doesn’t disturb other diners.
A spokesman from The Araki told The Telegraph: “This restaurant does not limit anyone who wants to take pictures. All that we ask is that people do not use flash.”
Last year supermarket chain, Waitrose released a food trends report which found one-third of those aged 18 to 34 regularly post pictures of their meals on social media.
In 2014 a group of French chefs launched a campaign to ban people from using their smartphones and sharing pictures of their food across social networking platforms.
Criticism came after a number of Michelin starred chefs including Alexandre Gauthier, chef at the Grenouillere restaurant near Calais, noticed diners were more interested in taking photos of their food than tasting it.
"People just won't disconnect anymore," he told AFP. "Before they used to take photos of their family, of their grandmother, but now it's photos of dishes," he said.
What do you make of diners taking photos of their food to share on instagram and other social media outlets? We want to know your thoughts so please leave comments below or head on over to our Facebook or Twitter.
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