Secretless pastry chefs on Instagram: the disclosure of culinary secrets on social media

Abstract

Purpose Informed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s systems view of creativity and Chad Borkenhagen’s conceptualization of open source cooking, this study explored how a group of extraordinary pastry chef used Instagram to openly express creativity, disseminate knowledge and reveal culinary secrets. The subsequent impacts of such actions were also assessed. Design/methodology/approach A qualitatively driven mixed-method approach was conducted using a nested mixed-method design. A total of 2,456 Instagram posts were visually analyzed alongside a series of interviews with elite pastry chefs over a two-year period. Findings Analysis distilled three themes that delineated how elite pastry chefs express creativity and share knowledge mindfully, ethically and altruistically on Instagram. The findings also converged to form a new theoretical model, “systems view of culinary creative sharing,” which accounts for the multifaceted considerations of culinary knowledge sharing on social media. Research limitations/implications Findings converged to form a systems view of culinary knowledge sharing. This is peculiarly useful for scholars who are interested in developing a greater understanding about “where and how” creative ideas and knowledge originate, disseminate and receive corroborations in the contemporary digital era. Originality/value This study highlighted that a new praxis of open sharing looms large in the culinary profession. This praxis symbolizes a movement away from the traditional mindset of safeguarding culinary secrets and toward a more transparent and open philosophy toward knowledge sharing in the culinary community.

Culinary aesthetics: World-traveling with culinary arts

“…Globalization can both diversify and homogenize one's food knowing. With the increase of foreign ingredients accessibility, mass media influences, continuous dominance and growth of large food conglomerates (Hall & Mitchell, 2002), and the proliferation of open-access culinary information made available online (Lee & Tao, 2021), one can argue that the modern-day consumer/tourist is living in the midst of blurred gustemic genres. Such external influences can render tourists to have varying ideas on what constitutes as authentic despite never traveling to the space before (e.g., Walter, 2017).…”

Becoming top global chef: what does it take to become a highly successful entrepreneurial careerist?

“…Within career eco-systems, multiple actors communicate, act, react, negotiate, engage and develop, evaluating and re-evaluating multiple psychological and legal contracts (Baruch and Rousseau, 2019). The restaurant sector is highly competitive, and to survive in it, one needs to realize the “landscape” of career at the personal level, and the needs and demands of the clientele as well as the media, when aspiring to the top echelons of the profession (Lee and Tao, 2021). A career ecosystem operates under the “survival of the fittest” law, and only few can reach and maintain certain top positions, and subsystems coexist, and a number of stakeholders can influence career trajectory of individuals.…”

Pâte à Choux, a Love Story: Expressions of a culinarian

“…As a serious pupil of culinary arts, a culinarian knows how to cite and give credit to the works and inspirations informing their doing. Fauchart and von Hippel (2008) alongside Lee and Tao (2021) explain this practice as a form of creative ethics, a social code shared amongst the grapevine of the culinary community. No ideas are purely new.…”

“…No ideas are purely new. To acclaim something is purely new or original reflects naivety on the creator, as one does not create out of nothing, but from a basis of sociocultural materials available in today's "secretless" society (Borkenhagen, 2017;Lee & Tao, 2021). What makes an idea new lies in the rarity and meaningfulness of the idea's conception-a relatively new and meaningful construction for the culinary domain (Lee & Tao, 2021;Stierand et al, 2014).…”

“…One is mindful when adopting aspects of other styles and cuisines that do not pertain to one's own knowing and comprehension-the culinarian knows how to adopt ideas respectfully without causing irreverence. As an ethical being, a culinarian understands creative plagiarism reflects a blasphemy in the culinary community, an intolerable violation that could bring dishonor to one's own repute when misappropriated (Borkenhagen, 2017;Fauchart & von Hippel, 2008;Lee & Tao, 2021).…”