A day in the life of Mathieu Zouhairi

Photos Yves Mourtada

Words Matthieu Morge-Zucconi

Share the article on

The Social Food’s co-founder talks travelling, skateboarding, and working from bed.

You don’t quite expect to find such a huge, fully-equipped kitchen in Mathieu Zouhairi’s flat. After all, the food pictures he’s become known for are mostly taken abroad, in restaurants or on the street. We didn’t really have him pegged as a homebody either, however he admits it himself: “when we’re in Paris, we really don’t go out that often, we eat at home a lot.” As he pours us a glass of homemade ice tea, he tells us about his day-to-day life, from travelling, to skateboarding, and working from his bed.

Hello Mathieu, could you introduce yourself to our readers?

My name is Mathieu, I’m 27, and I’ve lived in Paris for the past 7 and a half years. I’m a photographer, and I specialise in food, travel, and cocktails. My company is called The Social Food.

Tell us more about The Social Food.

The Social Food is three years old. My girlfriend Shirley and I originally started the company to organise private dinners. She cooked, and I prepared cocktails. We travelled a lot, and started taking pictures. At first, it was amateur-level photography, until it wasn’t any more! We spent seven years in the nightlife industry. I worked at Wanderlust and Silencio for a while. That’s where I started making cocktails. These days, I think it’s much easier to do what you want, there’s literally a million tutorials out there to teach you what you need.

You started working in clubs when you first moved to Paris?

Yes. I was doing audiovisual studies, and I decided I wanted to join Shirley in Paris. So I moved here, started by washing the dishes at Wanderlust and made my way up to the bar. I learned cocktail making at Silencio, and perfected it at Les Bains. Back then, we would work nights, and do our personal side projects during the day. It worked out very well for us. We did a lot of travel photography and brands started coming to us for it. Our side projects started taking up all our time, so we decided to make a living out of them.

These days, you mostly do photography, right?

Yes. We decided to focus mainly on photography about 8 months ago. We do have plenty of other projects going on, though. We do a fair amount of consulting for restaurants, we’re developing our hot sauce with Julien Pham (of Phamily First fame), we organise photo shoots, food styling, etc. There’s a lot of different things going on, we’re super happy.

At what time does your day start?

I don’t have an alarm clock any more! We set our own work rhythm, which is the best, and also makes finding time to travel much easier. There are no standard weeks. For example, when we’re doing post-production, I sometimes get up, go skateboarding for a bit, come back, and then get to work! Photoshoot weeks are different. We often work together during those weeks, which is nice because we complement each other well. I’d say I generally get up between 9:00 and 10:00am, and work from my bed until noon.

Doesn’t working with your girlfriend make things complicated, in particular when it comes to separating professional and personal life?

We always get that question! It’s true that we’re together every hour of the day. It’s working out fine, though. We rarely have the same level of motivation, and that’s great because there’s always one of us to make sure we keep working. Sometimes switching off is a bit complicated, especially for me. If I’m watching TV and have an idea, I have to share it immediately. There are always ideas to be had, so I’m constantly taking notes in my phone. I used to write my ideas down on paper, but I just ended up being swamped by them!

You mentioned skateboarding earlier on. Do you skate much?

I do! I skate 30 minutes to an hour every day. I like going to skate at République. I’ve been skateboarding for 10 years now. It’s the only kind of exercise I get, except if you count the body pump classes at Club Med Gym! (laughs)

Your hair is quite long, do you get it cut often?

Not at all! I let it grow out for three months, and then get it cut. I go to an old hairdresser’s on rue Tiquetonne where I can get it done for 20 euros, which is the most I’m willing to spend! I do my own beard with our kitchen scissors, which surprisingly isn’t much to Shirley’s liking!

What type of grooming products do you use?

I like the Horace orange blossom shower gel. Its scent is amazing for when you’re on holidays, after a day spent in the sun. I also have an Aesop orange-scented body balm. I use the Horace face cleanser and mattifying moisturiser. For my hair, I sometimes apply some Sisley refreshing lotion. I like that a lot.

Do you still go out much?

It’s part of the job. You have to meet people! In Paris, we only ever go to the same 3 or 4 restaurants: Racines, Tsukizi in the Odéon area, Carbon, and Faggio are our favourite. We like places where we feel good. We try out some places, but we also like to cook, and take the time to buy our food from the market. When we’re travelling, we go to markets, eat at restaurants, sometimes 7 or 8 times a day. No museums though.

How does that even work, 7 or 8 meals a day?

We only have one dish, that’s the secret! (laughs) We got to restaurants to try the specific special dish they’re known for, and that’s it! I have to admit we sometimes stray from that rule. We eat outdoors a lot too — you can call us the picnic kings!