Elodie Versos: A Space Engineer with a Passion for Cooking, Winner of Food Influencers Awards 2024

This year's winner of the 3rd edition of the Stylezza Food Influencers Awards, which was held at the Hotel La Vague in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, is 33-year old Elodie Versos, who thanks to her Instagram page ‘La Cuisine d'une Toquée' managed to charm the jury and bring home the first prize.

"I'm a mum of two: I've got a six-year-old boy and a two-year-old girl, so tha's why my instagram page ‘La Cuisine d'une toquée' is about cooking but also displays simple and easy games and activities you can do daily with your children", says Elodie in an interview for Stylezza magazine. Originally from Bordeaux, Elodie moved to the Var region in the South of France to pursue her space engineering career. She has always been very passionate about food and in 2015 she started her blog followed by her instagram page in 2019.

When asked where her passion for cooking comes from she replied:

"I was at secondary school. My mother always used to cook a lot and when I was little I used to spend all my summers at my grandparents', who were farmers and so we'd pick vegetables and other food and cook it. Later on, as a teenager, I used to make meals for my parents. That's how I became passionate about it".

The winner of this year's Food Influencers Awards decided to take part in the competition to increase the visibility of her instagram page and her cooking. She hopes she'll be able to reach a greater number of followers to have more contact with people with whom she can talk to and exchange tips and tricks.The children's activities she proposes on her social media page are also very successful between her friends, who follow her ideas closely and regularly ask herfor advice.

"My main guideline for these games is simplicity. I think there are lots of mums in my situation, with little time on their hands and children who are always demanding for new ways of entertainment. I give suggestions on how to spend time with them in a pleasant way," says Elodie. Her job is very demanding and her partner works shifts, leaving her with little time for herself, which is why she wakes up every morning around 6.30am, giving her half an hour alone time to eat breakfast in peace before waking her children, preparing some delicious food for them and taking them to school. She usually does meal prepping on weekends and loves cooking simple things like cookies or quiches withher children.

"On the other hand, when I'm doing something a bit more complex, I like to put on some music and cook alone; it relaxes me", the young mum of two says. Of course, she also prepares ready meals from time to time, like chicken nuggets orcordon bleu, which pleases the whole family and takes less time to prepare. Although she doesn't forbid any food to her children she makes sure that they eat a portion of vegetables at every meal, which is easier for her 6-year old son than her 2-year old daughter, whose ‘neophobia', as Elodie calls it, is the fear of greens...

But even for this she found a solution: "At the dinner table we have game cards where we have to imitate animals, encouraging my children to peck at the veggies like a chicken or make a mark in them like a lion and that allows my daughter to eat the vegetables, even if only a little bit."

When asked what advice she has for people who want to follow in her footsteps she replied: "I think they should start by sharing what they like and not get discouraged easily. I've evolved very slowly, so it really has to be something you love to do for yourself first and then share it with others."

Her dream for the future would be to reduce her work hours and dedicate herself more to her passion of cooking and growing her instagram community. After winning the Food Influencers Awards prize, Elodie got an interview on TV, which made her followers grow by a 1000 overnight.

"I haven't completely recovered from my TV appearance yet, it truly was a bit magical", she said, with excitement in her voice.

Her instagram name ‘La Cuisine d'une Toquée' which literally translated means "The Kitchen of a crazy one", has actually more to do with the "toque de chef", meaning chef's hat, but this year's winner of the Food Influencers Awards by Stylezza is not too sure why she chose that name in the first place. In any case, what matters most is that she keeps creating mouth-watering and interesting content for all of us to enjoy. 

Article by Virginia D'Umas