Instagram food baby
The Food Babies of Instagram
Mike Chau and kidsIllustration by João Fazenda
Mike and Alexandra Chau got married in 2012, when they were twenty-eight years old. Mike works in tech, Alex in finance. As they thought about expanding their family, they moved from Manhattan to Mike’s childhood neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens. An enthusiastic eater, Mike considered himself “one of those people who posted too many pictures of food” on Instagram. One night in 2013, he took a picture of a newborn baby, red and scowling, alongside an open takeout container of chicken and brown rice: the Chaus’ son, Matty, was sixty-seven hours old.
A meatball shot followed. Then red velvet cake. Then, as the days passed, sushi and pad Thai. Matty was not yet consuming solid food, but his newborn expressions—lolling tongue, grimace—seemed to convey a gastronomic opinion. When paired with a cider doughnut, he rolled his eyes, as if in disdain. His father discovered that a bitten cookie resembled a bib when held beneath his son’s chin. The food was a fun accessory to the baby—or was it the other way around? “I thought, Oh, this is interesting,” Mike said.
The star power of the Instagram feed that became @foodbabyny doubled in 2015, when the Chaus’ daughter, Sammy, was born. She made her social-media début with a box of pastries from the Doughnut Project. Mike liked visiting buzzy new restaurants on opening day, and, as the children grew, so did @foodbabyny’s repertoire. The kids posed with pizza, tofu, kimchi, kale, bagels, burgers, spring rolls, shakshuka, crêpes, noodles, ramen, falafel, waffles, bao, and pie. They were caught sleeping, laughing, thumbs-upping, pouting, and squalling, often while wearing entertaining outfits—a trucker cap that said “RIBS,” a T-shirt that said “NEW YORK OR NOWHERE.”
Mike name-checked businesses with a friendly hashtag (#foodbabylovesottostacos), which endeared him to restaurateurs. Foodies began asking him where to eat. He disliked the term “influencer,” but that’s what he became.
Inevitably, there was backlash: after Sammy was shown shredding an enormous leg of turkey at Disneyland, a commenter complained, “You’re literally giving SHIT to your kid.” Mike later said, “Just because the kids are next to the food doesn’t mean they’re eating all of it.”
By the time the Hester Street Fair asked Mike to curate the inaugural FoodBabyNY Food Fest, this past October, more than three hundred thousand Instagrammers were following the Chaus. On a cold, blustery day, hundreds of them showed up on the Lower East Side, to sample the food of some two dozen venders in white tents. Mike stood by a Chau-family tent, receiving visitors. The “baby” portion of @foodbabyny was temporarily unavailable: Alex had taken Matty, now five, to warm up in the car, and Sammy, three, had taken refuge behind a vender’s table, where she was snuggling in her grandfather’s lap.
Looking around at the offerings—Supermoon Bakehouse, Destination Dumplings, Mama’s Too!—Mike noted that he’d chosen restaurants that deserved “more exposure.
” He was holding yuca fries from Millie’s Cuban Café, but so many people were trying to talk to him that he didn’t have time to eat. Do all your posts involve your kids? (Most do, yes!) Where’s a good place around here for brunch? (Kiki’s!) Can we get a picture? (Absolutely!) After getting her selfie, Janice Wang, a young foodie from the Upper East Side, said, “I’m a bit of a food snob, and I want to know what’s out there.” Diana Nguyen and Cham Keat, who run the Instagram account @hypefoodies, had driven from Washington, D.C. Nguyen was holding an Ice & Vice cone piled with scoops of Pickled Cherry and FoodBaby, a special flavor (Concord-grape ice cream, raspberry coulis, doughnut soil, rainbow sprinkles). Of the Chaus, Nguyen said, “We really love watching them live their life with food.”
Kevin Hernandez, a guidance counsellor, introduced Mike to his wife, Ilana, who was pregnant. “We’re obsessed with you guys,” Hernandez told him. “We love that your kids eat whatever you give them.
”
“Did you see the video of us giving them grasshoppers?” Mike said.
“It was amazing,” Hernandez said. “They were eating them like they were chips.”
After a teen-age boy asked Mike for advice on breaking out of an Instagram rut—“I feel like everything is starting to look the same”—Sammy wandered out, wearing a leopard-print jacket and sparkly pink sneakers. The crowd swarmed, cell phones aloft. A woman said to her husband, “Oh, there’s the little girl!”
Will @foodbabyny lose its appeal as the children grow up? The question is irrelevant, for now. A couple of weeks after the festival, Alex gave birth to a daughter, Nicky—Chau baby No. 3. Within weeks, Nicky was rolling her eyes on Instagram, backdropping a Gooey Everything Bar from the Good Batch. ♦
Baby led weaning Instagram accounts to follow
Coming up with exciting new foods for your little one to try during weaning can get quite tough - especially if you're not a natural whizz in the kitchen.
Luckily, there's loads of inspiration for baby led weaning every which way you turn.
Firstly, there's some great ideas on the MadeForMums weaning app - and tons of stuff on Instagram, too.
1. Rebecca Wilson Food
Rebecca Wilson, formerly known as ‘What Mummy Makes’, has built a community for mums looking for fun and creative weaning recipe inspiration. With an Instagram account boasting almost 500k followers, two books and a mini podcast series with guests including Katie Piper and Anna Williamson, Rebecca's weaning account is certainly one you can rely on. Parent Tester Naomi says Rebecca is “great for inspiration, plus she pops the recipes in the caption.”
2. Solid Starts
Made up of a team of paediatric feeding expert and doctors, weaning Instagram account Solid Starts aims to show its 1.2 million followers how to introduce real food to babies. As well as introducing certain foods, Solid Starts dives into weaning-related topics such as preventing and reversing picky eating, how to prepare fruit and tips for toddlers refusing high chairs.
Solid Start's content carefully covers the whole weaning journey, with one of our Parent Testers Shannon saying "Solid Starts is good at showing how to offer food at different ages". Solid Starts also has a free app, which is essentially a searchable food database for babies.
3. SR Nutrition
SR Nutrition, a baby & child nutritionist and Sunday Times Bestselling Author, posts a colourful mix of BLW recipes to her 289k followers as well as exploring weaning talking points, from top tips for eating more veg to store cupboard weaning staples.
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She’s a big fan amongst MFM testers, with Parent Tester Sibohan saying: “SR nutrition is great! She has a book which is really popular too and loads of info on her website.” Laura, another Parent Tester, says: “I followed her with my now 3 year old and she is a good eater and loves trying new things.”
4. My First Meals
All the recipes you see on My First Meals use only 5 ingredients (or less), perfect for busy parents looking for quick, simple and nourishing meals.
Recipes include crispy gnocchi chips with avocado dip, blueberry yogurt muffins and cheesy apple and chicken pinwheels.
This weaning Instagram is a big fan with MFM Parent Testers: Danielle says recipes are “so easy but still tasty, with loads of inspiration saved on my highlights”. Charlotte says: “I’ve done so many of her recipes and they've all gone down a treat!”, while Manda says “she’s hilarious and her recipes are always simple to do, but tasty too”.
5. Baby Led Kitchen
Recipe creator and author Jo posts reels, graphics and creative recipes, with her captions including ingredients, which age they're suitable for and how they went down with her little ones. Recipes are creative and beautiful to look at, with dishes including porridge loaf, fritters, broccoli pesto muffins. Jo also has her own app, ‘The Baby Led Kitchen’ for more recipe inspiration, suitable from 6 months to independent eating. MFM tester Tanya says “the recipes are delicious, and we just cook the same thing for everyone.
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6. Bubba’s Food Diary
This weaning Instagram account stays clear of sharing bland weaning recipes, instead exploring interesting flavours from worldwide cuisines such as African, Greek and Asian. Promising to keep recipes easy for busy lives, you can expect recipes such as cheesy naans and pakoras, udon noodle stir fries and spinach curry.
7. Ellie’s Whole Food Life
This baby weaning page focuses on egg substituted and veggie-friendly meals – think vegan pulled pork buns, egg-free butternut squash muffins and mini hash brown cups. There’s also plenty of sweet treats to trawl through, such as eggless crepes, vegan chocolate cupcakes and mini biscoff waffles.
8. Baby Led Eating
Hannah, from Baby Led Eating, keeps her followers updated with ideas for babies, toddlers and the whole family, with fun and inventive recipes such as 'muffin tray tapas' and savoury standouts including cheese potato and onion tart, orzo pasta bake and a tomato, courgette and pesto loaf.
You can also expect general BLW info and reviews of products including bibs, suction mats and cutlery.
9. Food Safety Mum
Jenna is a qualified food safety expert, sharing her knowledge on all things freezing and reheating to her 12k followers. Expect expert advice on topics to help with your own journey, such as food poisoning, food allergen labelling changes, how and when to defrost leftovers and so much more!
10. Baby Led Weaning Cookbook
Natalie Peall posts colourful, easy-to-follow weaning recipes, from spring rolls to chocolate smoothies and spinach pancakes, as well as the weaning products she’s currently loving. Natalie is also the founder of ‘Baby Led Weaning Recipes’, a free app with over 250 weaning recipes (all suitable from 6 months), with monthly guides and routines.
11. Starting Solids
Weaning specialist Sarah posts easy-to-follow recipe content, as well as videos and graphics on topics such as how to serve fruit safely and blw-friendly, how much a toddler should eat and how to wean more sustainably.
Sarah also hosts weaning and picky eating workshops, as well as 1:1 consultations for that extra bit of guidance.
12. At The Table With Toby
Follow mum Vicki's Instagram for honest reviews of how her homemade meals went down, plus the odd kids menu review when the family are out and about. Vicki's 'raid the fridge and chuck it in' recipes are dishes which all families have probably made from one time to another, such as gnocchi bakes made from spag bol leftovers, chicken satay noodles and creamy mushroom pasta. Most of Vicki's posts show the recipe in the caption, so it's easy for you to follow, too.
13. Zayne's Plate
Simone, a mum of 5 and recipe creator, regularly posts amazingly colourful baby (6 months+) and toddler meals to her 170k followers, with honest captions sharing what little Zayne did and didn't eat.
Simone's Instagram is both entertaining and informative, whether its a post on common choking hazards for kids under 4, a recipe for 4-ingredient pb & banana pancakes or a reel of her baby tasting chicken drumsticks for the first time.
Simone is also the author of 'Baby-Led Weaning Made Easy', a cookbook which came out in 2021.
14. Wean in 15
Although Joe Wicks’ weaning Instagram isn’t updated as regularly as it used to, there’s still plenty of creative and adventurous recipes to check out, from cheesy salmon broccoli bake to jackfruit curry and lemon and asparagus risotto. Plus, there’s insight from Joe’s weaning experiences with guests including child nutritionsit @srnutrition.
P.S. Here's how to download the MadeForMums weaning app
Images: All Instagram
Read more:
- Amazing Instagram dads to follow right now
- Have you joined the MadeForMums Insta community yet?
- 60 Instagram mums we reckon you should follow
The most popular Instagram bloggers in Odessa (TOP10)
News
Odessa is a city of Ukraine with a unique color, but let's look at how creatively the Odessa bloggers were able to present themselves, let's look at the example of their Instagram accounts.
We present you the TOP10 "Pearls by the Sea" Instagram bloggers.
Karisha Bulavskaya @karishashasha 84.9 thousand subscribers
The girl travels a lot, so the page contains not only the cozy streets of Odessa, but also other equally beautiful cities. Karisha photographs exclusively on the iPhone and this does not affect the quality of the pictures in any way. Everything is in the best traditions of Travel blogger. nine0003
View this post on Instagram I can't say yet whether I like it or not, but it makes an impression! We found a super beautiful metro station, walked to the most famous pizzeria in Naples, which turned out to be closed - our luck
Savely Libkin @savvalibkin0002 Owner of restaurants in Odessa and Kyiv, author of books: "My Odessa cuisine", "Odessa feast".
There are many famous people of Ukraine in the account, stories about national dishes and various delicacies, as well as Odessa's favorite humor and color.
View this post on Instagram For those who are interested, I look forward to visiting. Sincerely, Savva. Tel: 06751846780003
Publication from Saveliy Libkin (@savvalibkin)
Ellena Galant @llena_gilant_girl 216 thousand
The girl positions herself as a fashion and alarm various trends from the fashion world.
View this post on Instagram ☀️ On the channel NEW VIDEO in 1 minute outfit format.
No, not this outfit, but the one that you saw in Instagram stories here a couple of days ago... Enjoy watching everyone, and I ran to my morning workout
@momincube 16.8k followers
Mom of three, radio host, traveler, barista, sorceress and adventurer - an impressive number of roles for one girl. There are a lot of tips and stories in the profile for every activity of an Odessa woman.
View this post on Instagramthousand subscribers
The girl is engaged in tailoring her own line of clothes, household products, acts as an ambassador for a brand of children's clothes. In addition to her work, Lera shares pictures from vacations, advertising campaigns, photos with her family.
View this post on Instagram
Today I read it on the door of a closed store in the market
Angelina Golt @angelgolt 24.9k followers
Fashion/art photographer, art director Angelina's profile shows photos and videos from the shoot, not forgetting to spice up the pictures with topical topics familiar to every inhabitant of social networks. An account for those who want to develop themselves in the field of fashion photography and are looking for an inspirer.
View this post on Instagram @an.koval @you_make_me_curly
Publication from Angelina Golt (@angelgolt)
Nastya GoZ @nastyagooz 23.
4 thousand subscribers
Accounts are filled with warm nature and understanding of the meaning photos of the owner of the page.
View this post on Instagram0011 Liza Lazdina @litttle_l 48 thousand subscribers
Liza uploads photos of Odessa and other cities where she ends up with a camera. The result is pleasing to the eye: minimalism, sophistication, creativity and fantasy - a profile for inspiration and the search for new ideas.
View this publication on Instagram
Alisa Cooper @alisa___Cooper 18.9 thousand subscribers
Alisa is a food blogger and part-time mother.
The profile has a lot of mouth-watering pictures, various recipes and cooking tips - nothing banal, just trends. The girl also talks about the problems that parents face and raises burning questions.
@n.krvchnko 19.6 thousand followers
An account saturated with bright colors, with no less expressive owner. The girl presents her clothing brand - colorful outfits in the style of Frida Kahlo. The page will appeal to anyone who loves references to Indian culture. nine0003
&lTags: poster of Odessa, where to go in Odessa, account, photo instagram, Poster of Odessa, Karisha Bulavskaya @karishashasha, Savely Libkin @savvalibkin, Ellena Galant @ellena_galant_girl, Lerchik Perchik @garbuwka, Angelina Golt @angelgolt, Nastya Gooz @nastyagooz , Alisa Cooper @alisa___cooper, @n.
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It's Kovrov, baby! Love, tangerines and elastic... Instagram is going crazy!
It's less than a month before the New Year, but without snow it's somehow hard to think about Olivier and tangerines.
In general: do you really want to put up a Christmas tree?
This week was hot: fashion, love, sports, New Year and food!
And let it rain instead of snow, but it's time to create New Year's mood! nine0003
Here is @oborina_katarina knitted a snowman.
In general, she knitted a lot of things…
But, of course, the fashion industry was not forgotten either. @suhareffsax went to a Vogue themed DR.
Black and white colors are, of course, classic and good. But, Michael, leopard, stripes and animal print are in trend now! Maybe it’s worth replenishing the insta with another fashionable photo?
@aleksandryabtsov is buying tangerines with might and main. Moreover, Alexander, apparently, is a lotto lover. So I compared round citrus fruits with barrels from the game. Or does Pyaterochka help out so much that it won’t let anyone get bored in NG: can you play and eat? nine0003
Now about the frame that drives you crazy. @martynova_shura96 loves beautiful photos, the beach and a tanned body. Sasha Martynova is on vacation in Thailand, but she doesn't forget about her subscribers. Every day there are photos, videos, stories… Almost 4,000 people follow Sasha’s life!
The review photos are so good that we couldn't choose one of them. Admire!
@_egoistk_a_ thinks now is the time for love, romance and relationships! Love is wonderful! nine0003
Our Vasilyeva Dasha travels again! Judging by Instagram, the movement person is about her!
Don't know what to do? @dasha___vasilyeva will show you cool photos from Turkey and weekly hangouts from Moscow.
