Meet the new celebrity chefs – The Irish Times | Tech Reddy

When you’re out of motivation and struggling to come up with delicious, easy recipes, what do you do – dig into a cookbook or reach for your cell phone to scroll through Instagram or TikTok ? Increasingly, social media platforms are where the most popular recipes are.

The internet has created a new generation of home cooks who have become influential content creators. With hundreds of thousands of followers and a string of viral recipes to their name, these are the new celebrity chefs.

For some, the pastime has turned into a career, and book publishing has followed. Lorraine Fanneran, Sarah Butler and Nathan Anthony are three creators, based in Limerick, Castlebar and Belfast, who between them have more than 1.5 million followers on Instagram and TikTok. They have one thing in common – the Covid pandemic has opened up opportunities for them to move around.

Lorraine Fanner @HealthyFitBella

Lorraine Fanneran is a mother of two from Castletroy in Limerick, where she and her husband, chef Bruno Coppola, own a restaurant, La Cucina. Fanneran was an early adopter when it came to social media. “In the beginning it was me and Donal Skehan, we were the first people on Twitter,” he says. Lately, he has taken to Instagram and the latest TikTok, and his ItalianFoodie account, a restaurant with a focus on food, has been set aside alongside Healthy Fit Bella.

“I had surgery for breast cancer in 2014, and after that, when I got out of the hospital, I decided that I would be good and healthy and give myself a good chance, the best chance It started with my daily diary of my meals and workouts, and Instagram was my main focus.

Like many others, he found interest in his account increased during the pandemic. “It just blew up. When the restaurant closed, I started making some of the recipes from La Cucina, some of the pasta recipes, and showing how to make pizza at home, and making cocktails .

TikTok is changing things, it’s not like Instagram, it’s not about making things pretty, and people like that.

“I always like to be the first on the scene or adapt early, so I jump on Reels early, I quickly get there and start changing everything to the Revolutions,” this move changed everything. The restaurant’s approach to the home was a hit with followers, and the videos, filmed by Fanneran on an iPhone in his kitchen in Castletroy, quickly went viral. Some of the simple, easy-to-access videos he created, received millions of views, and then came the support of celebrities.

The account followed by American actress Courteney Cox has 12.2 million followers, but only 625 accounts follow, one of which is Healthy Fit Bella. “I don’t know how it happened. I’ve passed out many times, and when it happened it was shown everywhere, in part because of the majority of views of my videos in America.

A baked tomato soup video that catapulted Fanneran into the viral world has more than five million views. “It’s very simple, you just cook the tomatoes, but most people never thought of cooking tomatoes and making soup, back then. I also have a great song on it, and everything works with that one video. Then I had a grilled cheese sandwich with everything and pulled cheese, melted cheese.

Fanneran also sent his comments to TikTok, saying that he regrets that he did not get on this platform sooner, although he quickly made 115,000 and 1.2 million likes. “TikTok is changing things, it’s not like Instagram, it’s not about making things pretty, and people like that.”

When planning what dishes to cook for her videos, Fanneran keeps things simple and delicious. “Everyone is very busy. They don’t have time. They don’t want to cook with a million meals. They just want simple and tasty food. It helps, though, that you can make those simple, delicious meals jump off the screen and send your server into the kitchen. Fanneran has that talent.

Commercial interests have quickly overtaken his success, and he now has clients and works with a variety of brands. “In the last eight months, brands are coming. It can be very expensive for them. They don’t pay the studio, they don’t send people to the film.

Content creation is now a full-time career for Fanneran, and he can pick and choose what brands he works with. But he has one golden rule. “I’ve never cooked anything I didn’t like.”

Sarah Butler @sarahbutlerathomeofficial

Sarah Butler, who lives in Castlebar, Co Mayo with her husband and two children, is a bridal designer who quit her job when the pandemic hit. “I worked for myself, I was very busy, I won many awards, then Covid hit and I stopped working,” he said.

In November 2020, she started posting her cooking videos on Instagram. “I started sharing my love of cooking and people were asking for more.” His followers grew, and the number reached 10,000 in February 2020, making him a social media creator’s worst nightmare. His account was hacked and he lost access to his page and all his information.

I’m still sitting there with my mouth open, how did this happen?

He fought back by sharing his experiences with the media, including a radio interview with Jennifer Zamparelli. “And we went back to, I think 19,500 fans the next day.” Now that number has grown to 109,000, and Butler has published not one but two cookbooks, encouraged by her students.

“Everybody was closed, so they had time to cook at home, so I think there was a good audience there. So they asked me to put together a book of all my recipes. I designed it myself, used a publishing company to display the ad, and published it myself.” Sarah Butler Home Cooking was published in September 2021 and has sold 10,000 copies, followed this month by Sarah Butler Food for Life, both available from her website, sarahbutlerathome.com.

Butler’s recipes for family-friendly, easy-to-cook meals appeal to both adults and children: “You know, how to make three different meals out of two pounds of meat and eat it dear whole family. It’s all about eating well, at home, using the best products and ingredients at home. That’s what everyone says, I love your recipes because I have everything at home already.”

One of her recent successes was a recipe for chicken curry with hidden vegetables. “People say I make lunch and the kids don’t eat. I recently made a garden that has been viewed 1.1 million times in three weeks. You try to put the vegetable in the children, so you combine it with the sauce. And the garden is very beautiful.”

In the summer, Butler did a screen test which went well and now he appears regularly on Ireland AM, leaving his home in Co Mayo at 4am to appear on the TV show breakfast. “I’m still sitting there with my mouth open, how did this happen?”

Nathan Anthony, @boredoflunch

Nathan Anthony lives in Belfast and works as a project manager. He launched his Instagram food account in 2020, in one of the deadlocks. A specialist in recipes that can be cooked in a slow cooker or air fryer, he has 782,000 Instagram followers, and 407,000 people on TikTok, 3.8 million people like him.

“I set up my Instagram at the start of the pandemic and never thought it would turn into a hit station. Isn’t it crazy, 1.5 million followers later? Dublin is my most followed city on the internet ,” said Anthony.

She says her recipes are “accessible to all cooks regardless of cooking experience”, and “effectively priced and calorie-counted for busy people, whether that’s a busy parent, for people who work long days. need quick easy recipes. Eating on a budget is also a big issue; I don’t want people looking in delis for special meals .”

It’s completely changed to the real thing, less filtering and less noise

He seems surprised that his score is up. “I posted a honey and garlic chicken recipe for honey and garlic that has now collected 30 million views. Fifteen million views on Instagram, and then the rest on my social media. I every time I get a shock when I get to some of the videos, it’s crazy.”

But he still doesn’t know why cooking videos go viral, and some aren’t successful. “There’s no formula or magic, sometimes it’s luck, but usually using popular audio, people engage with it and spend a lot of time watching it. I think I’ve been lucky most of the times I’ve gotten a video, but the most important thing is that it’s accessible, unpolished, and achievable for home cooks.

“It’s completely different from reality, less filtering and less manipulation than Instagram’s negative attitude towards content; it seems like reality is doing better now.

Anthony’s first book, called Bored of Lunch, will be published by Penguin on January 5, a collection of his slow cooker recipes, with an air fryer cookbook to follow in March.