Michelin Stars and Digital Plates: A Discourse Historical Analysis of U.S. Food Posts on Instagram

The point of this paper is to look at how the words and pictures used in Instagram posts about Michelin Guide restaurants show how power works in the U.S. food industry. It looks at how these digital artefacts support or challenge social norms and food hierarchies by focussing on posts from 2020 and later. The study uses Discourse Historical Analysis (DHA) to look at how these posts are ideological texts that shape how people think about restaurants with Michelin stars and boost their reputation. The paper shows that Michelin's influence goes beyond food quality and includes cultural capital and identity formation through textual and visual elements. Language, power, and digital representation are all brought together in this study to show how American food culture is changing.