Meet Victoire Loup | Food critic, culinary consultant and cookbook author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Victoire Loup and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Victoire, how does your business help the community?
During the Covid-19 lockdown I found myself in France, stuck in a house with nothing to do except read novels and bake sourdough bread. All my clients and restaurant projects (I was on the verge of opening a kebab restaurant with Michelin-starred chef Ludo Lefebvre) were on hold, and there was nothing I could do to help them from afar. So I decided to write a cookbook for charity, giving 100% of the proceeds to help feed families in need. Together with my publishers, we were able to write, shoot, and produce A La Maison in a couple of months, featuring fantastic chefs such as Pierre Gagnaire, Anne-Sophie Pic, Guy Savoy, etc.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I started my company In The Loup back in 2015, after a few years as Le Fooding’s Marketing Director. I now run a consulting agency specialized in F&B, on top of writing restaurant reviews as well as several cookbooks. This shift from belonging to a company to running my own happened at the same time as I was moving from Paris to Los Angeles — so it was a huge leap of faith. I didn’t have a precise aim, other than trying to find a sense of purpose by focusing on mission-driven chefs. I consider myself lucky to love my job so much that it doesn’t feel like working. The downside is that I have zero divide between private and professional life, it’s all intertwined and I find myself to be always ’on’.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have been working on a book/podcast/documentary project for a while now, which focuses on mission-driven chefs. I have been able to take it one step further with the help of my friend, former colleague and mentor Anna Polonsky, who runs a strategy and design consultancy for those who use food as a beacon for community and change. Her company ‘Polonsky & Friends’ supports mission-driven, food-related projects initiated by some of today’s most interesting chefs, activists, and brands.

Website: intheloup.la

Instagram: instagram.com/victoire_loup

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/victoireloup/

Image Credits
For the B&W headshots: © Remy Tortosa
for the book shots: © Victor Picon for Human Humans