Gordon Ramsay slams chef Michel Roux as ‘pompous’ and ‘an old fart’ for banning photos of food

'It’s free promotion they should be grateful for'

(AFP/Getty Images)

Top French chef Michel Roux sparked howls of outrage from millennials this week when he announced a ban on photography in his three Michelin starred restaurant, The Waterside Inn.

Announcing that the prestigious Berkshire-based dining room will no longer tolerate eager social media snappers, the 76-year-old chef said he has instructed staff to put a card up at the restaurants door saying “no photos, please.”

“I’m really getting so upset about people taking pictures,” he told the Daily Mail.

“I mean, what are they doing? Maybe once during the meal you want to take a little photo of something because it's unusual,“ he added.

But now acclaimed chef Gordon Ramsay has joined the debate in his famously blunt manner.

Never one to shy away from voicing his opinions, Ramsay took to Twitter where he slated Roux for being “pompous” and “an old fart.”

“How bloody pompous! It’s a compliment to the chef the fact that customers want to take pictures of dishes they’ve paid for it’s 2017,” he wrote.

Met with a flood of comments from fans in agreement, Ramsay continued his rant adding that the restaurant should be grateful for the free promotion.

“If I see a great looking picture posted, I’ll want to go eat there immediately, he’s just an old fart who’s forgotten to move on,” the 50-year-old chef added.

“Customers vote with their feet, pictures create huge followers and excited potential business”

And, he’s right. Nowadays, the world of food extends far beyond the restaurants we eat in, there’s an entire digital landscape that exists too and, more often than not, it’s photo-loving foodies that are pulling in these businesses patrons.

In fact, just a quick search for #foodporn on Instragram brings up a mammoth 139 million photos.