Do you ever follow someone because, well, they're hot and then a couple of months later you see them pop up on your feed and think – wait, who is this again and why are they teaching me how to make a niçoise salad? Well, something like that happened recently.
The confusion was not because I couldn't remember who Gabbriette was – the California native has one of those faces you can't forget. But rather, because the model-musician-dancer and overall baddie had materialised as a kind of verbal and explicitly punk rock Emily Mariko. For someone who is known for being something of an enigma, as well as effortlessly cool, it was an unexpected interruption to her usual content programming.
In the Instagram Reel, Gabriella Bechtel (her government name) is making her mum's shrimp ceviche – this feels like the right moment to let you know she's Mexican. She's wearing a full face of makeup, her signature lined lips and plucked eyebrows, while chopping tomatoes, coriander and burning her mouth with jalapeños and her hands on hot prawns. It's not a direction we'd expect from the Nasty Cherry band member, but it's become my safe space on the internet.
When I said it happened to me recently, I lied. I've been watching her cooking videos for some time now, it just feels like the right moment to share this with you all. Whether she's scraping seeds out of a rockmelon or showing us her cornflower blue CorningWare dish nabbed at an estate-sale, it's all very wholesome and soothing. Maybe it's just a "hot girls, they're just like us" fascination or perhaps it's because we rarely get to see models be so candid as to let us into their home and risk us judging their knife skills. Especially after that cucumber fiasco from Kendall. Either way, it's a parasocial relationship I'm attached to, and it's offering up a lot of material when the inevitable mid-week dinner crisis hits. Find a highlight reel of Gabbriettes best cooking videos, below.
Her Mum's Shrimp Ceviche
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Mama's Chicken Enchiladas
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Leek & Golden Beet Fritters
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Grain-free Crunch Wraps
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Plum & Olive Oil Cake
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Grain-free Chewy Chocolate Chunky Cookies
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