50 Milwaukee Foodie Influencers on Instagram

A foodie can be a variety of things, anything from someone who enjoys cooking food from home to traveling the world to try what’s authentic to that area. Of course, there’s also the social media influencer who knows how to capture the perfect picture (or video) to make their followers hungry. Regardless, the commonality is their perceived love for food.

I accidentally became a foodie when I started sharing Milwaukee restaurants (among other things) on TikTok (@JMattMke). I had a local-focused video go viral, and then my account jumped up by 50,000 followers, and started making more content to support local businesses. In reality, one of the easiest types of business to support is a restaurant, at least in my opinion. Certainly, we all have our preferences, but food can connect us to one another.

Read: 50 Wisconsin TikTokers (with 50,000+ Followers)

With this in mind, I stayed the course, largely around food content, and now have over 180,000 followers on TikTok. Since I don’t review or rank businesses I feature, I’m a very non-traditional foodie or as I like to think of it, simply a lifestyle content creator. Generally, my lifestyle is as a city of Milwaukee local who makes content for fellow locals. Most people don’t think of TikTok as a place for local content, let alone foodie content, that’s expected more about Instagram (at least when it was predominately a photo-sharing app).

Read: 25 TikTokers in Milwaukee

Seeing that I’m someone who likes to connect people to each other (not just through food), I started wondering how many foodies were in Milwaukee. Then could I figure out a list of 50? Furthermore, how do you define an influencer? Surely someone with 50 close friends can influence them on what and where to eat.

Read: 10 Mexican Restaurants in Milwaukee

Making the List

For the sake of this article, I looked to include accounts that have at least 1,000 followers and have been active in the past 12 months. I’m keeping an eye on Leah & Nic (@MKEFoodDuo: 825 | 2022: 631) who are working at it!

There are a handful of accounts I know of that have been inactive for over a year and others that relocated and are sharing food for their new home (such as @TheMakeshiftLocal who relocated to Denver, CO).

RIP to these inactive foodies: @BiteOfLife_MKE (2023), @DonutWhore (2023), @Eats_MKE (2022) @JamiesEatsMKE (2022), @GalsThatBrunchMKE (2021), @FoodPlusDrinkMilwaukee (2020), @FoodiesOfMilwaukee (2019)

I had looked into a list of Wisconsin foodie influencers but I quickly realized I could fill a list with people in the great Milwaukee area. No, I can’t confirm where everyone lives, but their content does lean more heavily toward the southeast Wisconsin area (Izzy Larini is Madison-based with occasional Milwaukee features – @WisconsinGourmande: 6,285 | 2022: 4,065). I suppose technically, a Milwaukee foodie is also a Wisconsin foodie.

Further, for this particular list, I was looking for Instagram accounts that regularly feature food (or beverages) on their page. Moreover, the accounts included are a variety of people – customers wanting to share their latest eats, home cooks sharing their favorite recipes, the food critic (take that as you want to), and the professional chefs that have gained popularity on the platform.

Read: 10 Places for Wings in Milwaukee (with Dude Foods)

One thing to note, this list isn’t for restaurant accounts specifically, however, if a restaurant owner has a personal account and mainly posts about food, they’re included. If I missed a favorite Milwaukee foodie of yours, DM me on IG (@JMattMke) to let me know, I surely don’t know everyone but wanted to start somewhere.

Originally published: July 25, 2022

Updated: August 5, 2024

Nano Influencers (< 10,000 followers)

55. Devour 414 – @Devour414 (1,005 | 2022: 956)

54. Rachel Howe – @MKEFoodCritic (1,017 | 2022: 883)

53. Nick Bailey – @BigGreenEgg_MKE (1,081 | 2022: 1,066)

52. Noah K – @Noah_EatsMKE (1,091 | 2022: 992)

• Works with @Epicurean Chronicles (11,419 | 2022: 10,982) out of Madison, WI which occasionally visits Milwaukee

51. Cierra, Esq. – @TheeTravelingAttorneyEats (1,157 | new to list)

50. Explore Milwaukee – @ExploreMilwaukee (1,178 | 2022: 1,124)

49. Kyle Swartz – @Four_One_Fork (1,201 | 2022: 1,054)

48. Laura – @CameraEatsFirst_MKE (1,307 | 2022: 988)

47. Jade – @MKEFoodieLife (1,331 | 2022: 1,192)

46. Milwaukee Foodie – @MKE_Food_Life (1,378 | 2022: 1,140)

45. Ryan Gill – @Chef_Ryan15 (1,459 | 2022: 1,343)

44. Cassie – @Cooking.Cassie (1,625 | 2022: 1,501)

43. Dominic Dean – @DomTheFoodReviewer (1,791 | 2022: 1,124)

42. Olivia – @Oliv.Eat.A (1,822 | 2022: 1,806)

41. Emma Thomas – @EmmaFckinThomas (1,835 | 2022: 1,706)

40. MKE Foodie – @MKEFoodie_414 (2,300 | 2022: 1,879)

39. Marc & Melissa Tantillo – @SiegeFoodPhoto (2,341 | 2022: 1,648)

38. Mad Love For All Things MKE – @MadAboutMKE (2,393 | 2022: 2,259)

37. Kyle Knall – @KyleKnallYall (2,398 | 2022: 1,763)

• Chef and owner of Birch and Stone Bank Farm Market

36. Carol Deptolla – @MKE_Diner (2,459 | 2022: 1,974)

• Former Dining Critic for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

35. Milwaukee Foodie Family – @Milwaukee_Foodie_Family (2,583 | 2022: 1,701)

34. Richard Winter – @MilwaukeeFoodKing (2,721 | 2022: 2,389)

33. Cooking Secrets for Men – @CookingSecretsForMen (3,178 | Added 9/10/24)

32. Anne – @Weezie_Eats (3,746 | 2022: 1,945)

31. Nicole – @TheHungryGirlFoodBlog (3,985 | 2022: 1,055)

30. Elizabeth – @HowSheSeesMKE (4,032 | 2022: 3,812)

29. Noel & Jennifer – @NoshMKE (4,219 | 2022: 3,592)

28. Jules – @JulesEdelen (4,755 | 2022: 5,248)

27. Milwaukee Food, Drink, & Fun – @Milwaukee.Foodie (4,937 | 2022: 861)

More Nano Influencers (above 5,000)

26. Jenna – @HangryMKE (5,068 | 2022: 2,180)

25. Erica – @EricaExploresMKE (5,194 | 2022: 1,040)

24. Tia – @MidwestGirlAdventures (5,232 | 2022: 5,171)

23. Zach Adams – @Chef_Zach_Adams414 (5,701 | 2022: 1,774)

• Next Level Chef (Season 1)

22. Derek Mosley – @JudgeMosley (6,080 | 2022: 4,032)

21. Vegan Milwaukee – @VeganMilwaukee (6,869 | 2022: 6,866)

20. Lori Fredrich – @LoFredrich (7,005 | 2022: 4,959)

• Dining Editor for OnMilwaukee

19. Ivon – @JustATasteMKE (8,473 | new to list)

18. Two Sisters in Milwaukee – @MunchingInMilwaukee (8,709 | 2022: 5,400)

Micro-Influencers (10K – 50,000 followers)

17. Kimberly Sweets Adams – @SignatureSweets_ (10,738 | new to list)

• Owner of Signature Sweets Bakery
• Food Network’s The Big Bake (Season 1 + 3)

16. Kelli Calkins – @CookingWithKelli (11,513 | 2022: 2,391)

15. Daniel Jacobs – @ChefDanJacobs (14,083 | new to list)

• Co-Owner of DanDan and EsterEv
• Bravo’s Top Chef runner-up (Season 21)

14. Adam Pawlak – @Adam_Pawlak23 (14,243 | 2022: 11,163)

• Owner of Egg & Flour
• Hell’s Kitchen (Season 19) and Beat Bobby Flay (Season 35)

13. Philia Kelnhofer – @SweetPhiBlog (14,472 | 2022: 14,623)

12. Jena Carlin – @LittleRustedLadle (15,432 | 2022: 13,308)

11. JMatt – @JMattMke (16,850 | new to list)

10. Cathy – @LemonTreeCathy (19,078 | 2022: 15,004)

9. Maureen Fitzgerald – @WisconsinMommy (25,778 | 2022: 27,086)

8. Arthur Ircink  (Creator + Executive Producer) – @WisconsinFoodie (28,117 | 2022: 22,961)

• Many features include the Milwaukee area. The former host of 11 years, Kyle Cherek, is from Milwaukee; the new host is Luke Zahm.
• Arthur is also the co-publisher of Edible Milwaukee Magazine (@EdibleMilwaukee: 3,153 | 2022: 3,149)

7. Sam – @WisconsinCheesePlease (30,221 | 2022: 4,439)

6. Meg – @MilwaukeePhoto (34,450 | 2022: 16,066)

Read: 10 Places for Wings in Milwaukee (with Dude Foods)

Mid-Tier Influencers (50K – 500,000 followers)

5. Nick – @DudeFoods (53,546 | 2022: 54,037)

4. Judy – @MKEeeeEats (74,045 | 2022: 11,349)

3. Sara Nelson – @RealBalanced (77,377 | 2022: 82,015)

2. Kirk Muenzenberger – @KirksCookingAndCocktails (393,718 | new to list)

1. Erin – @WellPlated (404,099 | 2022: 181,134)

That’s what I have for you when it comes to the Milwaukee foodie. What do you think? Did I get the ones you know about or was there a big miss? Beyond Milwaukee, the Wisconsin foodie could be just starting out somewhere else within the state, enticing you to visit their hometown, but that’s a list for another day.

Nevertheless, if you didn’t see the Milwaukee foodie you follow on this list, I may not know about them yet. So, hit me up and tell me about them at @JMattMke (TikTok, Instagram, X/Twitter, Facebook, YouTube Shorts, and Snapchat)!

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