Why restaurant influencers have just ruined your dinner

You can spot them a mile off. They spend more time photographing food than eating it and push to the front of the queue in a hot place in exchange for a #gifted review. Food influencers are the cringiest of them all, says Sam Wilson... and they are ruining it for the rest of us too

Influencers are ‘a threat ... because of how insidious their dishonesty is’ (Getty)

There’s something incredibly Shakespearian about social media influencers, who seem to believe that all the world really is a stage. Unpacking their ring lights, adjusting their tripods, swarming around plates of food that have barely touched the table to get “The Shot” because the camera always eats first. All to outrun the black hole of irrelevance.

Such “content creators” as The Foodie Influencer, from my hometown of Bristol, whose grid is a mood board of melted cheese, something deep-fried and neon signage, spoil us by finally un-keeping the gate to restaurants that predate their birth, hidden gems or trendy new spots that are so overhyped by influencers that it’s impossible to get a table as a normal human being with less than 10,000 followers.

A quick doom-scroll of your Instagram feed might have you wondering: are influencers ruining eating out?