Close up shot of pizza
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

Instagram Accounts Every Food Lover Needs to Follow

Food porn. It's like regular porn, except it's safe for work, (mostly) non-exploitive, and generally promotes a body image standard that is more consistent with an opera singer than a surgically enhanced super model.

Overall, the ability to feast with your eyes on a daily basis is one of the unsung joys of the digital age, and these enterprising Instagram accounts -- that focus primarily on food -- bring the joys of culinary voyeurism to new heights.

In other words, look at these fucking cool pics!

Chicago -- land of Ditka, mustaches, cholesterol-induced heart attacks, and wildly unhealthy lunches. Prime examples of these artery-cloggin' midday meals are captured in all their grease-laden glory by Chicago pro-lunchers Raff and Green. If you aren't interested already, you probably never will be. These guys are the real sausage kings of Chicago. 

Through Robert Jacob Lerma's his lens, Southwestern BBQ is shown from start to finish -- meaning you're just as likely to see living cows grazing local farms, as brisket simmering on the grill. Lerma doesn't stop at just posting food porn-y still-lifes, he explores Texas BBQ culture through the lives of the people who make all the mesquite-tinged magic happen. And yes, there's also a shit ton of drool-worthy food pics here, too -- philistines. Also, he has multiple pics of Willie Nelson. Just sayin'.

If you are of the opinion that every great food porn account should come with a hearty dose of wanderlust, you're right... and also, you need to follow the dubiously named pissinginthepunchbowl, the Insta-alias of photographer Marcus Nilsson. He eats. He travels. He takes POV shots on a motorcycle. He has a bitchin' beard. You want his life. Except maybe the beard part -- it makes eating kind of suck.

Deliciously formed puns aside, New Fork City casts a wide net, colorfully capturing New York's trendiest, most vibrant, often Wonka-esque culinary contributions to the world. Though their primary focus tends to suit your sweet tooth, they pretty much cover all bases of NYC's obviously and eternally booming food scene. If I was a little cheesier, I'd say New Fork City makes me want to take a Kong-sized bite out of the Big Apple. But obviously, I won't say that. 

Jen Balisi's account is the consummate food porn Instagram. It focuses squarely on the dishes at hand, taking gorgeous, close-up, indulgent photos of all the wondrous foodstuff she and her network of loyal followers pull from the worldwide food scene. If you were taking a 101 college course in 'Gramming food, she's like the Lord Byron of #brunchshot poetry. 

SoCal-based Kuya Meztizo captures LA's always colorful food scene through a kaleidoscopic lens that's almost more akin to modern art than social media. If you want a stark, stringent, monochromatic view of of the left coast's culinary landscape, look somewhere else. If you want the City of Angels' most interesting food on a digital platter, subscribe, sucker. 

You don't task your unemployed brother-in-law who happens to have a chainsaw and some free time to build you a solid, handmade dining room table; you hire a carpenter. Similarly, if you want the most badass visual food experiences on the web, you tap a damn professional. David Chang is just that (notice that lil' blue checkmark next to his name). He's an acclaimed chefa television personalityan author, and an active social media contributor. If you are going to let your taste buds live vicariously through anyone, it might as well be this dude.

For food shots of an (**ahem**) higher caliber, nothing will set your feed ablaze like Chronic Blaze, and obviously marijuana edible-themed account, birthed by an apparently anonymous California chef who specializes in bringing medicated bites to the world and the Interwebs. If you need some further proof of this account's validity, check out this pot lasagna. It's like Garfield and Spicoli had a love-child. Which, actually, is pretty gross to think about. And illegal. 

Out of all the celebrities who love to dabble in food, Aziz Ansari may love to dabble the mostest. While most celebrities are content to muddle their timelines with #selfies, #cleavage, and #cleavageselfies, Aziz makes it his mission to infuse his feed with food nearly as much as a Kardashian infuses her skin with silicone -- which is to say, he takes a ton of food pics. And they are truly foodie-worthy fodder. It almost makes me forgive him for the way Master of None ended. Pasta school?! I mean, really.

Full disclosure: this account is part of Thrillist (hence the word Thrillist in the name). But, if you care about food -- and more specifically, the ubiquitous German/American meat sandwich the French call le hamburger -- you will care about our writer Kevin Alexander's nationwide quest to fulfill his lifelong dream of finding the perfect burger as he photo-documents all his country-wide conquests. You see, he's like the gastro analogue of Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, only instead of killing Bill, he's just going to kill his gallbladder with excess fat intake. 

All right so, sure, this is a shameless plug but honestly, we've got tons and tons of user-submitted pics here. I had to throw our social team a bone here.

Also, I was promised cash. 

I probably shouldn't have said that last part. 

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Wil Fulton is a staff writer for Thrillist. He's never taken a food photo on Instagram and he's not just saying that to be cool or something. Follow him: @wilfulton.