How To Become A Food Influencer In India: A

Guide For Food Bloggers

Quick Summary

Becoming a food influencer in India doesn't start with followers, a studio, or a fixed formula; it starts with consistency, a clear niche, and a willingness to keep showing up on camera. To understand it better, we spoke in detail with a popular food influencer, Ganesh Shedge, who goes by the handle stylishachari on social media, and he shared some valuable tips that could help someone start their journey to becoming a food influencer. This article breaks down how home cooks actually turn into food bloggers and food content creators, drawing on the real journey of a working food influencer and home chef.

Deep Dive

There’s always a story behind a popular food influencer, but do you know some people get there by chance and never look back? Well, that’s something Shedge shared with us about his food influencer journey. While he was a typical production team member for a reality show, he got in contact with the production team of an international cooking show, whose Indian franchise was just starting in India.

He eventually got roped in to the food team and then worked with popular celebrity chefs like Vikas Khanna and learnt food styling tips from Michael Swamy. And from there, he never looked back. Ganesh started his food influencing journey as a side hustle, but now works full-time for it and shoots about 30 recipes a month.

As it turns out, this kind of accidental start is quite common for the food influencers in India. Being a food influencer is not so much about making a decision as a sequence of little steps that have to be repeated. For those considering food content creation as a career choice rather than just a pastime, here is a typical route to becoming a food influencer.

Niche, Not Trend, Should Be Your First Step

The common trait of the food content creators who manage to stick in the industry is that they abandon following food trends relatively quickly. So, for instance, Shedge plans his content calendar solely on the basis of recipes that are somewhat forgotten or regional, that are researched by him, not something that is in trend now.

“I have tried following food trends once, but it never felt right,” he shared. “If I'm just copying everything everybody else does, why would anyone choose my page for this?”

So, the first real step in becoming a food influencer seriously is choosing what people would choose your page for. It could be forgotten recipes, recipes for five-minute meals, holiday food, budget meals, recipes for a certain ingredient. Having a defined food niche is crucial for getting recognition from both audience and algorithms long before you gain any number of followers.

Food Blogger, Food Influencer, Or Food Content Creator — Does The Label Matter?

India's food bloggers, food influencers and food content creators mostly used the same concept for search purposes, even though the terms technically refer to slightly different types of content creation.

A food blogger is someone who has created a loyal audience through his/her blog and recipe archive, while a food influencer works with Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. A food content creator, on the other hand, is a broader platform-agnostic term. In fact, most creators are doing all three things at once. Searching for one of these terms will give you exactly the same results.

It is useful to spend an evening scrolling through the pages of famous food bloggers and food influencers of India, such as Ranveer Brar, Sanjeev Kapoor, Kabita Singh and Shivesh Bhatia, who have built a unique niche way before becoming famous, not to replicate their style, but to understand how differently they present the same idea of the recipe, technique or food memories.

Why Instagram Is Still the Primary Channel for Food Bloggers

The food blogger's Instagram page is the first thing that a brand, a follower, and another creator will check when looking for a point of contact with a food blogger. It is not YouTube or blog archives. Therefore, your Instagram page should be treated like a storefront: the niche must be stated in the bio, the feed must be consistent, and the highlights must provide a visitor with the most interesting pieces of content. Just like any other platform, Instagram growth still requires the same things – consistency, clear niche, and content answering a certain craving or curiosity – but the visual-first nature of food makes Instagram especially rewarding.

Create a Rhythm Of Content That You Could Stick To

To become a food influencer, consistency is more important than any viral moment. So, Shedge shoots three times per month, which helps him with around 30 recipes during that period. This means he shoots 10-12 dishes per day. The reason for this is that he posts one daily reel and calculates the number backwards.

To make his day simpler and easier, dishes are batch-planned, ingredients are pre-arranged, and dishes requiring a lot of preparation time, such as boiling rajma or chole, are cooked in advance so the whole process takes 45 minutes to an hour for one recipe.

When asked about the important equipment required for the shoot, Shedge shared none of this requires costly equipment to start. “All you need is a smartphone, lighting near a window and the usual home kitchen props such as a mat, a bowl and cooking utensils.” He further shared that the key to a sustainable content rhythm is less about the equipment and more about the planning. Pre-calculating what to cook, pre-arranging what could be prepared in advance and leaving space for days when energy level is low.  

Feel Comfortable On Camera Before Anything Else

Inexperience with a camera is one of the reasons why many good home cooks never become food influencers, and it's not about food at all. Sharing his own experience, Shedge admitted, “I was awkward on camera, uncomfortable speaking and cooking simultaneously.” His solution to that problem wasn't a special course or any tricks, only repetition, filming ordinary cooking and analysing the result. According to him, confidence is not a requirement of a food influencer, but its outcome.

The role of research in this aspect is also significant. Before filming any recipe, especially regional ones, it is important to study the way how other food influencers and prominent chefs introduce the recipe. Shedge further shared that it is important to call someone from the region where this dish belongs, asking about the original recipe. The result is that your content will sound researched rather than improvised, which is important for the audience's trust as much as the recipe itself.

How Do Food Influencers Earn Their Money

Finally, the big question! How do these food influencers earn money? Well, for most of the food creators working mainly on Instagram, the main source of income is brand collaborations rather than restaurant blogging and ad revenue. The food influencers who are also active on YouTube usually have another income stream that involves views. So, for Instagram-first food influencers, brand collaboration is the only source of income, which means the way they get paid becomes especially important.

While dealing with a brand collaboration, it’s important to be flexible as every brand has its own requirements and budget. For example, while starting the journey as a food influencer or a food blogger, one may have to do barter collaborations or negotiate better with larger brands that require more deliverables.

But the one thing that Shedge shared is super-important in becoming a food influencer or a food blogger- trust! “This is one of the non-negotiable conditions that I work with. If the brand is known and trusted by the audience, it becomes easier to grab the deal. Since a recommendation of a food influencer is essentially a trust-based transaction.”

How To Price Your First Brand Collaboration As a New Food Influencer

There are a few things to consider before pricing your first brand collaboration as a new food influencer or food creator.

• Don't fix a single rate for all brand collaborations – let it vary depending on the size of the brand and number of deliverables.

• Consider usage rights, exclusivity and how much feedback a brand needs when negotiating the price.

• Do research the brand and the product before making any deal – the audience's trust is the actual asset being traded.

• Brand collaborations on barter and lower rates are quite common for the smaller or local brands – they help create your portfolio, not just pay the bills.

Getting Started vs Growing Out As a Food Influencer

Conclusion

The way to become a food influencer in India usually follows a circuitous route; in Shedge's case, it went through a TV show and a food styling internship before reaching an Instagram page. However, the underlying pattern is the same for everyone starting today, regardless of whether you want to be a food blogger, a food influencer or just a food content creator. It’s always better to choose a niche to be recognised for, shoot consistently within the limits you are able to, get comfortable on camera through repetition, not perfection, and treat every brand collaboration as a trust-based transaction. The equipment and the follower count will eventually come along with everything else.