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A Quick Bite with Local Food Influencers

Foodie Girls - Cristina Martinez (@Worcester_Eats), Angelica Martinez (@PharmdFoodie), Jessica Dao (@ImDatingFood)

Like Anthony Bourdain said on his 2016 Hunger Tour, “I want you to want what I am eating. When I post a picture of my food, I want you to be jealous and I want you to wish you were eating the same thing.” But Bourdain isn’t the only badass making people salivate with every photo swipe. The food industry is changing and if you want to get real about it, you must make room at the table for those who know how to entice your inner cravings.

With a combined audience of 47,000 followers, Angelica Martinez, Jessica Dao and Cristina Martinez are taking a seat at the chef’s table and turning their social media platforms into powerful branding machines. Carrying the heavy weight title of Influencer – a newly sprung term describing the persuasive skills of an Instagrammer – these three women are taking the local food scene by storm and leaving their tag at every turn.

“I guess you can say, I’m eating my way to the top,” says Angelica Martinez, known to her followers as @PharmDfoodie. The top, being her Instagram brand, is quickly growing and has become one of the most well-known names in the local food market. The rapidly changing food hub of Worcester, prompted a new outlet for food lovers and critics, alike, and there’s no way around it. Martinez, a graduate student at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science and a lover of her mom’s panela and cheese jalapeño tamales, understands her position as an Influencer and knows that the industry leans on the those who can make people salivate. “We help support someone’s small business and when we support small business, we support big dreams,” she says. Martinez, among millions of other Influencers and social media users, is all about bringing back some honesty to the food game and helping the average business owner.

“Food is about community. It is about caring and sharing ideas, stories and culture. It is something I implement into my brand when I post,” says Martinez. “Food brings people together. My “go-to” food experience is going with a group of friends to share tapas, hot pot, Korean BBQ and any other food style that brings shared food.” With community and sharing as the pivotal point of the @PharmDfoodie brand, Martinez knows that a good story about a restaurant goes a long way. “My social media audience reacts depending on the content. If I post something like coffee or a salad, I will get a “YAY” in the comment box but if I post a burger, cheesy pizza or a noodle pull, people go crazy,” she says. People want the money shot. It’s that simple. The Instagram audience wants the exclusivity that lacks on every restaurant website.

“Menu tastings and blogger events are the best way to enjoy a meal. Going out with other foodies is really an experience,” says Christina Martinez, also known as @Worcester_Eats. “We take our time before we actually eat with photos and we spend more time talking about what we like about a dish.” The Holy Grail of food critiques, the New York Times, rules the term “make or break” with their honest and raw impression of new restaurants, often setting the stage for customers to indulge or avoid said restaurants. Their words weigh so heavily on potential food goers, that most reviews do not include photos. Now with the takeover of social media platforms like Instagram, Influencers can carry the same significance and back it by the phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” (Or likes, for that matter). “People love to see pictures of good food, especially when it is a new dish. The reactions are always good,” says Martinez. Millennials are at the top of the chain for Influencer audiences and Martinez provides a direct outlet for restaurants to connect with the untamable millennial population. Black Tap Burgers in New York’s Soho is a prime example of the feeding frenzy caused by Influencers. After a wave of Instagram posts about their Crazy Shakes – over-the-top milkshakes adorned with all kinds of sweetness – Black Top Burgers was featured on Buzzfeed and on ABC’s The Chew. Award winning local chefs like Chef Candace Murphy of Figs & Pigs, have opened their doors to Influencers with menu and beer tasting events as well as social media takeovers, often giving influencers free tastings of a new dish in return for a slot on their Instagram food grid.

“Being a foodie means taking a lot of photos before eating so it helps when you can be a foodie with those that understand what you do,” says Jessica Anh Dao, the creator of @ImDatingFood. “Foodies understand each other and we help each other when we need a hand model and understand the patience it takes to grab the right shot.” While many join this food blogging business to enjoy the adventures of culinary cuisine, others do it for the love of photography. “I am in love with photography,” says Dao. “It made me look at food in a different way. I realized that it was not just a cure for my hunger but also, an art. I don’t want to just show something I ate, but I want to capture all the ingredients in that dish and make it look good because its art.” Her art has soared her Instagram influence to a mass following of 32.1K, leaving followers with an appreciation of her photo quality. “I was able to turn my art into a brand and the quality of every photo has people falling in love with my account.”

Influencers deeply impact today’s culture, whether it be food, fashion or travel, and it must be considered in the marketing efforts of emerging new businesses. While The New York Times will always be the crème de la crème of food reviews, social media Influencers are nudging their way into the spotlight of credibility. As @PharmDfoodie says, “The camera eats first.”

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6 Great Places for Chicken Wings

Whether rub or sauce, The Fix on Grove Street in Worcester, MA offers all you can eat wings during Monday Night Football.

Ask ten people to name their favorite spot for chicken wings in Central Mass and you will get ten different answers. And ask ten people how they want them prepared and you will get ten different answers, again. The traditional BBQ, Teriyaki, Buffalo and Honey Mustard flavors are still popular, but different flavor variations are being created everyday as inventive Chefs look for new options to entice their customers.

Whether rub or sauce, The Fix on Grove Street in Worcester, MA offers all you can eat wings during Monday Night Football.Some interesting facts about the common chicken wing…According to Smithsonian magazine, the “Buffalo Chicken Wing” was invented in…you guessed it, Buffalo, NY by Teressa Bellissimo, proprietor of the Anchor Bar in 1964. Fortune magazine reported that 1.3 billion chicken wings were to be consumed for Super Bowl LI. And while most guys love eating wings, having a beer and watching a game, consider this… a young lady by the name of Miki Sudo who weighs only 115lbs and stands a mere 5’1” ate 192 wings in 10 minutes at a competitive eating contest in 2013!

Appetizer, dinner, lunch, late night snack or early morning pick me up, chicken wings are one of the most versatile food ever. Some people even like their chicken wings boneless—but that is an entirely different subject for a completely different day!

For this article, we will skip the national chains (sorry, Bdubs), as well as the restaurants serving frozen wing dings and focus on some unique flavors and the Chefs doing something a little different with the chicken wing right here in Central Mass!

Smokestack Urban Barbecue

You’d expect a great BBQ place to have a great chicken wing, and the Honey-Habanero Smoked Wings at Smokestack Urban Barbecue does not disappoint. The sweetness of the honey combined with the heat of the habanero on a smoked wing is definitely worth the try before you dig into the main menu.

Oak Barrel Tavern

Want something with a little zing but not overpowering heat? Try the OBT Stinger (garlic, honey and red pepper) at Oak Barrel Tavern. This plumper of a wing has a unique flavor combination and is a great start to a meal or have a bunch with a few Wachusett Country Ales while you sit at their oversized bar with friends.

Wicked Wing Company

OK daredevil, here is a wing if you really like the heat!! The Ghost Pepper Buffalo Wing at Wicked Wing Company pushes heat to new limits. Sure there is some traditional Buffalo flavoring, but this one is all about the heat! Fire in the hole!

The Fix Burger Bar

Looking to go a little further outside the box than traditional wings? The Dragon Wings at The Fix Burger Bar combine sweet red curry, coconut sauce and cilantro lime gremolata for a taste that will leave you wanting another order. BTW, delicious with a Jack’s Abby Hoponius Union IPA, trust us! For an added bonus, for the 2016 NFL season you can enjoy all you can eat wings (includes the salad bar) during Monday and Thursday Night Football.

Rye & Thyme American Tavern

Worcester’s North County chimes in with the R&T Asian BBQ Chicken Wing from Rye & Thyme in Leominster. This wing is smothered in a garlic, BBQ Sriracha sauce with wasabi pea crunch texturing that is sure to get your meal off to a great start!

Horseshoe Pub & Restaurant

The Horseshoe Pub & Restaurant in Hudson (or the ‘Shoe as it is known locally) has a pub Chicken Wing appetizer that doesn’t stand out because of the selection of sauces, but instead because of the way it is cooked. First roasted, then fried these plump, juicy wings are fantastic, but they get even better when you consider there are over 80 draft beers choices to enjoy with them. Our favorite, the Double Baked with a Wormtown Be Hoppy of course!