Instagrammer Michael Zee’s symmetrical breakfasts, huge in Hong Kong – how they became an internet sensation
Zee started out photographing his breakfasts and posting them online. Now, with more than 760,000 followers, it is his full-time career and he has written a cookbook. He talks about his inspirations and the future of Symmetry Breakfast
Every morning, Michael Zee prepares breakfast for his husband Mark van Beek in their apartment in Shanghai’s former French Concession. After carefully plating every element, he takes a symmetrical photo of their plates and posts it on his Instagram account, which has more than 760,000 followers.
This is how Symmetry Breakfast (@symmetrybreakfast) was born in 2013 in East London. More than 1,400 breakfasts later, managing the account has become Zee’s full-time career and encouraged him write a cookbook that has been published worldwide.
“It just started very naturally. I was cooking every morning and then I randomly started taking pictures for fun and sharing them on my personal account when something looked particularly pretty,” the Briton, in his early 30s, says during a recent visit to Hong Kong to sign copies of his book, SymmetryBreakfast: Cook-Love-Share.
When Zee cooked breakfast in Hong Kong – the city with his second-largest following after London – rather than make congee and milk tea, he conjured up baghrir – a Moroccan and Algerian pancake. With the help of friend Dana Elemara, who exports pure argan oil to the city, he did what he’s been doing for the past four years: cooking outside the box.
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Among the multitude of accounts for lovers of food porn on Instagram, Symmetry Breakfast stands out for its combination of sophisticated global dishes and stylish plating, with inspiring breakfasts that go beyond, say, avocado smashed on toasts and acai bowls.