Food and Identity

I like to pick up a copy of The Metro every day and a recent article by comedian, Carl Donnelly, about being a vegan caught my eye.  He says there is an assumption that all vegans can't stop going on about living a cruelty-free life, however in reality the requests to discuss it usually come from meat-eaters.  It got me thinking about my own decision to become a vegetarian when I was little and how food affects our identity.

Unlike culinary tourism where you seek out locally made food, some tourists look to reinforce their sense of identity when in a foreign country.  This could be the English seeking fish and chips in Greece, Australians hunting for Vegemite on Toast in Asia, and Americans looking for burgers everywhere.

Tea has become the most widely-drunk beverage in the world and has important cultural traditions and social practices in certain countries, for example, the Japanese tea ceremony and the English afternoon tea.

Tea is much-loved by British people of all social classes.  A cup of tea is such a vital part of everyday life for the majority of British people, and so integral to their daily routine, that it is difficult to imagine life in the UK without it.  Going to a tea shop became a favourite past-time of ladies in the nineteenth century and evolved into an elaborate social occasion.  Tea would be drunk from the best china and small amounts of food presented perfectly on little china plates.  On offer might be bread and butter, scones and cakes, and sandwiches with the crusts cut off.  Photographs from the time can provide a record of the history of tea rooms and how the social identity of women has changed over the years.  It became socially acceptable for women to visit tea rooms either alone, or in company, without it looking like they were breaching propriety, they were even regular meeting places for Suffragettes.

Image courtesy of J. Lyons & Co.

Nowadays food and politics mix in politicians' quest to be seen as in touch with their public.  In the image below, Barack Obama treats David Cameron to the traditional fare of hotdogs at a basketball match during the Prime Minister's trip to Washington in March 2012. Eating food seems to have overtaken kissing babies as the photograph opportunity of choice for many politicians.

Image courtesy of BBC News

These occasions are closely monitored, often staged, and hardly ever found in publications without a reason behind them.  In some cases photojournalists are given advance notice of the lenses to use to get the best photograph.  Often the aim is to make them look like a normal, everyday person and authenticate their identity.  What do you think of these photographs?  Do they achieve this aim?

Culinary Tourism

The act of posting a photograph of your meal has branched out into a social media app called Foodspotting.  This goes one step further than Instagram and is a visual guide to good food and where to find it, anywhere in the world.  It isn't jut useful for foodies, but tourists can use it to find their nearest dishes, and they can specify a particular food, from dumplings and dosas, to cronuts (a donut-croissant mash-up) and flagels (a flat bagel).

This niche area of food photography has branched into culinary tourism, looking at a destination's culture and how we connect with food.  This is not just about food on a plate, but includes everything around it; the moments, the connections, the scenes, the places, the stories, the authentic experience whilst in that particular location.

A local market is a great place to visit and full of photograph opportunities.  This is where the locals are, where people gather to go about their everyday business.

Street food can look great on camera, but keep in mind that if you add extra sauce to make it look good you should still be able to identify what it is.  You could even try re-plating the dish and even adding more of one of its ingredients if it needs a boost of color.  If it has a lime, for instance, ask for an extra, squeeze it on the food, then place it on the plate before photographing.  Remember that you want people's mouths to water.  If your mouth doesn't water when looking at the food, no one else's will either.

Image courtesy of National Geographic

I purposefully visited Bakewell in the Peak District to sample a real Bakewell pudding, not one of Mr Kipling's tarts.

The pudding boasts a charming history, with most claiming that it was originally made by accident at a local inn around 1860.  Mistress of The White Horse, Mrs Graves, instructed her cook to bake a strawberry tart for some guests; but instead of stirring the egg mixture into the pastry, cook accidentally spread it on top of the jam instead.  The surprisingly delicious result was declared a triumph, and Bakewell resident Mrs Wilson obtained the recipe and began selling the puddings from her cottage.

As well as the delicious pastries on offer, I wanted to explore the breath-taking views of the Peak District.  This was a perfect day trip for me to work on my travel photography portfolio.  I was able to create a story of the town of Bakewell, with images of the various shops that claim to sell the original recipe for the puddings to the surrounding natural beauty of the moors and dales.

Whilst there I stumbled across the annual duck race along the River Wye from Bakewell Bridge.  Over one thousand rubber ducks floated down the river to raise money for local charities.  This event added an extra dimension to my story of the town as I was able to include something unexpected, but part of the life of the locals.

How do you respond to food when you are on holiday?  Do you search out the nearest place that does a full English fry-up, or go exploring and go native?

London's Larder

Food and places are often linked when marketing restaurants.  It is not just the building's interior that is used to sell the dining experience, but the location as well.

London's Larder is not a photographic image, but an illustration by Cajsa Holgersson, that serves as a guide to London's hottest and tucked away foodie delights.  Holgersson uses bright colours to re-imagine London's landmarks as food items, for example, Tower Bridge is a giant cake.

Image courtesy of Herb Lester

Instagram is also a popular marketing device for restaurants and food shops.  Finding creative ideas for their use of this particular image-based social media tool.

The most common use is through encouraging the flaunting of "food porn," which can be defined as a delectable meal that customers take and upload to social media to share, brag about and drool over.  Many restaurants encourage customers to post pictures with a particular hashtag.  For example, #marivanna, a Russian restaurant with branches around the world, has nearly 10,000 posts linked to that hashtag on Instagram.  There are photographs of the food, but also of the plush interior, demonstrating the overall feeling customers may have by dining here.

Image courtesy of @bullinka

This is my own favourite food porn image.  It is from a recent holiday to India and reminds me of watching the sunset on the beach in Palolem, Goa, and the many delicious curries I savoured on that trip.  This was also the last night of my holiday, so for me, it is quite poignant as I knew I would soon be returning to the UK's cold weather and inferior tasting food.

Restaurants and food shops also use social media, particularly image-based posts, to create a personal bond with customers to make them love the brand.  They aim to establish a community or culture where the brand is a movement or way of life.  Starbucks introduced a campaign called "what do you want five more minutes of this summer?" and produced the video below to conjure images of ideal summer activities.

Images courtesy of Starbucks

People were encouraged to post their own images of summer, creating a positive link in their minds between them and Starbucks.  When they think of Starbucks they have positive thoughts and are more likely to buy this brand of coffee.  Images can have powerful connotations for people, marketers use this to prompt action, such as buying their product.

Using social media can be a powerful marketing tool, but what if the service was unsatisfactory?  Poor customer service in a restaurant, or badly cooked food, can be instantly snapped and shared with the online community instantly.

The act of sharing a photograph of your delicious, or disgusting, looking meal can be popular with some diners, but it is not liked by all.  It is seen as a breach of etiquette by some restaurant customers, especially when the photographer uses a flash, moves the furniture or even won't let their companions eat until they have 'foodstagrammed' it.

Love it or hate it, Instagramming food porn is here to stay.  What do you think of customers posting these pictures?  Please share your answers in the comments below.

Quintessentially British

Beatrice Peltre's book La Jardine Gourmande: Recipes For An Inspired Life expresses her desire and passion for cooking, the people, and the places she loves.  She says ". . . flavours are collected as souvenirs and shared as heirlooms . . ."

Another chef who celebrates their location is Rick Stein, selling locally sourced seafood in Padstow, Cornwall.  Although many people would argue curry is our national dish, eating fish and chips from a newspaper bag is quintessentially British.  You can't go wrong with the deliciousness on offer at Stein's Fish and Chips.  Every year they sell over 204,000 portions of chips, all made from potatoes grown right there in Padstow.

Stein's own blog features his suppliers, offers tips from the restaurant chefs and recommends inspiring ways for discovering Cornwall, using images that tell a story of their customers and the food they offer.

Images courtesy of Stein's Fish and Chips

Photojournalists and documentary photographers often use a series of images to create a photo-essay to tell their stories.  They rely on their images to establish the location and time to give viewers a true feeling of where and when it took place.  This is known as the establishing shot and usually taken at a wide angle to get as much in the frame as possible.

The above images from Stein's Fish and Chips are detail shots.  They are tightly composed and focus on something specific, in this case the food, central to telling the story.

Filler shots are other images that help to tell the story.  They help to set the scene.

The closing shot is used to end the story.  It needs to have a sense of closure and should portray an emotion you would like the viewer to feel about the narrative you have been working to tell, for example, is it a happy or sad ending, would you like them to take action after looking at the photo-essay?

Here are a series of images I took at China Town in London.  I used the first image to set the scene and tell viewers where they are.  I think took a variety of photographs of the food on display at the location, from crispy duck to garishly coloured sweet things.

It was great fun watching the people around China Town.  I also enjoy the tranquility of a seaside town like Padstow.  Why not try creating a photo-essay of your own on your next day trip, holiday overseas, or even in your own home town and share some of your images in the comments below.  Just remember if you go to Padstow, watch out for the chip-stealing seagulls.

Food Photography Inspriation

Whilst working on a cookbook project for Chilli Gourmet, I touched on the peripheries of food photography and the myriad of images and industries that spiral off of this genre.

My research led me to Beatrice Peltre, photographer and food stylist at La Tartine Gourmande.

Bea started her own blog in November 2005 talking about her first attempts at food photography.  She has since published her own cookbook, La Tartine Gourmande: Recipes for an Inspired Life, with nearly 100 recipes and charming anecdotes.  I was drawn the brightness of her images and how she shows off fresh produce in the best possible light.

Image courtesy of Beatrice Peltre

The primary aim of food photography is to make that food irresistible to the viewer.  In addition to the technology they use, the photographer can use colour and texture to create a sensory experience.  You can also play around with depth of field, the whole image doesn't have to be in focus.  Experiment with what you include in the frame, you may not want to include the whole dish, think about flaunting the best part of the food.  And, be daring with your props.

Taking inspiration from Be a, I styled the image below for my client-based assignment.  It is a seasonal dish of pheasant, rocoto chillies, blackberries and salad leaves.  The blackberries instantly make me think of the end of summer and going blackberry picking as a kid, the purple stain on your fingers and sweet taste of the berries.

Set Up

The equipment and settings I used were:

• Canon EOS 5D Mark iii
• Canon EF 24-105mm lens
• f4  
• 1/125sec.  
• ISO100

I used Elinchrome location lights to light the food as the natural light at the location was quite dull.  I used a white umbrella with the lights to diffuse the harshness.

I found it really helpful to plan my ideas for styling ahead of time so I can start to think about the colours, the plates I'll use, the ingredients.  For this dish I used a bright green background to contrast with the purple radicchio leaves and red of the chillies.

 Warm Pheasant Salad

Have fun with your own food photography.  I'd love to hear about how you got on, and don't forget to share your photos in the comments.