“The food in Italy was just so photogenic!” Akshiti Todi ’19 exclaimed, “It tasted so amazing and looked so good.” While visiting Italy on a family vacation, Todi amassed a collection of photographs featuring all the food she ate while in the country. From those collections of pictures, @cravingswithoutcaution was born.
@cravingswithoutcaution records the food adventures Todi goes on throughout the year, from restaurants in Boston to homemade food in India, and even a few creations of her own.
“I started it because I love food so much, and it actually makes me happy to look at food,” Todi said enthusiastically. The inspiration to create the account, she said, stemmed from her love for creative and unique food.
Growing up vegetarian, Todi’s always been very attentive to what she eats every day, and she considers herself an expert on eating vegetarian and delicious vegetarian options. Born in Mumbai, India, Todi’s entire family eats vegetarian food, and since then she’s always been able to find great creations following the dietary restriction. “It was easy to be vegetarian because all we ever ate growing up was vegetarian food,” she said.
Todi also takes great influence from her grandmother, she said, who dislikes food outside of the vegetarian dietary restriction. Todi has since adopted her eating habits in accordance with her grandmother’s tastes.
Despite eating all kinds of vegetarian food, Todi said her favorite type of food to Instagram was easily dessert foods. Nearly a third of her posts are dedicated to desserts ranging from macaroons to frozen yogurt. Her favorite post of hers, in fact, was deep fried Oreos with condensed milk.
Beyond sharing her variety of experiences with food, @cravingswithoutcaution has taught Todi numerous lessons about social media and marketing, she said. Working to build her food Instagram has mirrored the social media outreach required of many businesses. In that sense, she said, developing the @cravingswithoutcaution brand has aided in building practical promotional skills that she may use in the future.
Ultimately, Todi hopes that she can use @cravingswithoutcaution as a resume booster while also doing something she loves, eating and photographing good food. As an added bonus, she mentioned, if she can build her food Instagram large enough, restaurants might actually offer her free food in exchange for promoting the restaurant on the account.
Despite all the benefits of pursuing a food Instagram, Todi warned that operating the account has made her overanalyze her food choices when ordering at a new restaurant. “I felt that when I ordered food, I ordered for the look and uniqueness rather than the taste,” she elaborated. Each meal, she said, revolved around her next post rather than the enjoyment of the food she loves.
Ultimately, she said, “taste is way more important than the aesthetic.” Though she has been less active on @cravingswithoutcaution since returning to school, she said that her followers should expect a large uptake in media presence in a few months when she goes abroad for the spring semester. Dedicated fans of @cravingswithoutcaution will follow along Todi as she spends one delicious semester in Edinborough, Scotland!
