A Convo with the Queen of @dailyfoodconvo

A Convo with the Queen of @dailyfoodconvo

Trista Lee is a senior at North Quincy High School. When she is not studying, she enjoys reviewing the best restaurants in the Boston area on her Instagram food account @dailyfoodconvo. As a long time follower and loyal fan, I sat down with Trista to interview her about the ins and outs of her page. To get a glimpse into the genius mind of Trista Lee and the founder of @dailyfoodconvo, keep reading.

What inspired you to start your page?

I have always enjoyed taking photos of my food, and one day, I was going through my camera roll and realized I have way too many pictures, so I thought to myself, “Why don’t I start an Instagram?” By creating this account, my goal was to meet other influencers in the space and to encourage people to go out and eat at my favorite restaurants.

What is your family and friends’ opinion of this hobby?

I couldn’t ask for a better support system. Whenever I go out to eat with my family, they always wait to start eating until I finish taking all of my pictures. My sister even volunteers to hold the flashlight in order to get the best lighting possible.

How do you find places to review?

I go on Yelp the most often, but I also follow other food accounts on Instagram, as well as reading articles on Eater Boston about the trendiest local restaurants in the area.

What cuisine do you enjoy the most? Where is your favorite place to eat?

My top two favorite cuisines are Mediterranean and Japanese. There’s so many to choose from, but right now, my favorite restaurant is probably a place in the South End called Ilona, who have some of the best dollar oysters I’ve ever tried.

From your experience, does price always reflect the quality of the food?

Although a steeper price may indicate higher quality ingredients, I like to support smaller, independently-owned restaurants, which sometimes can be the cheapest options. I also try to look for deals as much as possible, which is definitely a better alternative.

Has a restaurant ever reached out to you to post? Would you ever consider doing sponsored content?

I’ve recently been in contact with a restaurant in Boston called El Barrio Mexican Grill. We’ve discussed curating social media content in exchange for covered meals. In the future, they are planning to send me some dates so that I could come in and promote the opening of their brand new location.

Do you think this has strengthened you as a person? How so?

It has definitely helped me to be more outgoing, as well as teaching me how to manage my time more effectively. Posting everyday and having fully edited content ready to go at all times is difficult, but keeping organized makes it so much easier.

Do you think your posts have positive impacts on the community? If so, what are they?

Because most of my posts involve smaller businesses, I definitely feel like I encourage my followers to give back to the local community. Also, I don’t make any money off of my posts, meaning I really do go to the restaurants that I love. For this reason, I feel like I give pretty good, honest recommendations.

What is the process of posting and maintaining this lifestyle like? How much work really goes into it?

As someone who takes immense pride in their account, posting is relatively time consuming. Once I make sure I have the best pictures, I go home and edit them, pick my sequence, and brainstorm possible caption ideas. Once this is all done, I can finally hit the upload button.

How do you think your quality of content has evolved since the beginning?

The dedication I have towards maintaining my account has definitely grown substantially. I went from posting two or three times a week to now posting every day. I have also picked up new techniques to help improve the quality of my content, including how to get the best camera angles and different lighting hacks.

What is your ultimate dream with @dailyfoodconvo?

I would love to grow my following enough to where restaurants would reach out to me and ask me to promote their business. But if I’m being honest, my number one goal is just to get free food.

“My grandma’s into it too. Right when we get our food she always says, ‘Aren’t you going to take a picture?’”