A few weeks ago, I joined Twitter on the advice of super food blogger Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen. It has been great. The hardest thing by far is to schedule actual "twitter sessions" during my work day, or I'll just produce absolutely nothing and tweet all day.
For anyone who's unaware, on Twitter, you can "follow" people (meaning you can read their constant updates in real time) or you can be "followed" by others (meaning people who "follow" you can read your constant updates in real time). Needless to say, the more followers you get, in comparison to the ones you follow, the cooler you are in Twitterville. But also, the quality of the people who follow you is really important. Following Barack Obama, Demi Moore or Jay Leno, for instance, is not as cool as being followed by said persons. It's a balancing act.
There's always someone you admire, a guru you cherish, or a big shot you respect. For chefs like me, being followed by Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud or Grant Achatz would be a huge deal.
And that brings me to Eric Ripert.
This article appears in Jun 17-23, 2009.