We’ve been learning about food styling in my cooking class lately — specifically how to dress up a dish for a photograph, even if that means using something no one would ever eat.
That ice cream you see above is really a mix of lard, sugar and chopped chocolate chips. In other classes we’ve made fake margaritas, fake beer, and fake coffee. (Jugo Maggi was key.) Next week we’re making mole that’s not really mole.
As someone who loves cooking and photographing real food, this whole thing makes me feel a little weird. I understand the role of the food stylist. He or she is needed to make sure the food photographs well, and to know what happens to food under certain conditions. If I owned a business that produced an unappetizing (but tasty) product, I’d want a food stylist to make the item look its best.
But… haven’t the rules changed, as far as fake food goes? We’re in an era where natural is in. Messy plates. Crumbs. Imperfections, to me, mean the food was made with love. It feels disingenuous to me that we should be promoting food, and at the same time giving off the message that it’s too ugly to photograph.
I have no idea how many magazines and newspapers continue to use fake food. But these classes really got me thinking about how traditional media and blogs continue to move in two different directions. It would be blasphemous for a food blogger to post a photo that wasn’t the real deal. So why is it okay with the rest of the media at large? Is it naive to think that food stylists should use real food, instead of fake?
Great post. Couldn’t agree with you more. Did you follow the whole scandal of vegetarian magazines buying non-vegetarian photos to put in their magazines? I don’t remember all the details, but it was only a few months ago. That sort of “lying” is the same as what you’re talking about here with lard as ice cream, etc. I think it’s just laziness, and I think it’s unnecessary in this day and age!
I hadn’t heard about that — I’ll have to look it up and post a link. On laziness, I think it’s more that this is the way they’ve learned it. And as a student, I’m wondering why we can’t use real food, at least to show the differences between the two. I’m thinking about bringing real mole to class this week, just because the thought of using fake mole kind of makes my stomach turn.
I think you’re on to something with the “the way they’ve learned it” thought. If people at large read more posts like this, we’ll be more tuned into the idea that the fake food actually looks fake, and therefore unappetizing… I think it’s just that it hasn’t really been discussed yet. But I definitely think it’s like if you grew up eating yogurt with crap in it, you don’t really understand how non-yogurty it is until you become attuned to the flavor of real yogurt; after that you don’t really enjoy eating the non-yogurt anymore. Also comparing it to the strides we’ve made with body images in the media, you’re totally right, it’s time for us to be moving past the non-representative food photography aesthetic.
As a blogger (and professional food photographer married to a food stylist) I can tell you that 100% of the jobs we do and food we photograph is real. It might not always be the freshest or held at proper temperatures but it’s real. The days of fake food and film and waiting for polaroids doesn’t apply much at all these days. Besides, real food looks best. I’m not sure why others teach students the fake ways other than the novelty factor or to show how things used to be done.
When I work with other food stylists it’s always real food too, excluding a spritz or spray of liquid or a random fake ice cube. I guess the only reason I’d think someone would show you fake ice cream is because it’s silly and interesting and becomes a “prop” but not the hero. Furthermore, nothing is more beautiful than real ice cream melting and dripping!
PLEASE take real mole to your next class! I can’t understand why one would need to fake that! 🙂
Oh… to address your question about how many magazines and newspapers use fake food: in my experience hardly anyone. Ever. And it’s not naive to think food stylists should use real food… most of them do.
Hi Matt: Thanks for the comment. I’m a fan. 🙂 It’s heartening to know that food stylists in the U.S. are using real food these days. You’ve empowered me to bring real mole to my class! The reason it was frowned upon in the first place is because the fat separates from mole rather quickly, and you end up with a pool of grease floating on top of your meat/vegetables. I think if I kept the mole warm on a low flame and changed it out when needed, it would probably work. We’ll see what happens! I’ll post my photo next week.
I have to agree with Matt, as a food photographer, I am also my own food stylist or work with one on specific shoots, and I (we) use real food 100% of the time.
As he said, some items may not good for consumption after we are done such as fish that stays out too long or food that’s handled with our hands too many times.
But yes, 100% real…
Lesley-
Food styling, IIRC, came about because of advertising when it becomes very difficult to keep a scoop of ice cream looking freshly scooped and perfect throughout the shoot because it’s melting.
It’s been a long time since I’ve learned about the regulations surrounding food advertising but back in the day, it used to be that the actual food you were advertising had to be real, but everything else could be fake. Hence the use of Elmer’s White Glue instead of milk in cereal bowls and the whole litany of non-food products designed to look like food.
I’m interested to know what uses the class is intended for.
Yes, I wanted to say much the same thing: if that was real ice cream you’d have, at best, a few minutes before it started melting under the studio lights and you had to put a new scoop in. What if you get distracted during the shoot? Now you may have melted ice cream all over the careful composition you were trying to create.
I do agree it’s something of a fine line, and some examples certainly fall into the “false advertising” category. The pictures of the hamburgers in McDonalds and other fast-food franchises are one infamous case.
Hi Jay: We’re learning about food styling for two reasons — first to show us what options are out there in the food industry, as far as jobs go. Second, assuming some of us will own a restaurant someday, it’s to offer up an idea of what a food photographer/stylist would look for, if they were setting up a shoot at our restaurant. We’re learning some basic photography too, which would be helpful in creating a restaurant menu or website.
I totally agree with this. About a year ago I watched a Food Network contest for food stylists, they barely used any food! I get that some items will not last through a shoot, but that is reality, we all know things will melt and droop. Some foods are more pleasing to the eye, regardless of how delicious they may be, but shouldn’t the goal of a food stylist to make all real foods as pleasing as possible?
Fashion stylists find items that will make that celebrity look as good as Spanx can make them look, they aren’t sending out body doubles onto the red carpet to fool us into thinking it is JLo.
“But shouldn’t the goal of a food stylist to make all real foods as pleasing as possible?” Totally agree. And your JLo reference made me laugh.
You might be interested in checking out this woman’s blog and her book (http://www.tarteletteblog.com/2005/03/about-tartelette.html). I haven’t read her book, so I cannot attest to whether or not she uses fake food, but she’s kind of an expert on food styling, and from the pictures I see, it looks like she uses real food.
I’ve taken styling classes from Helen (of Tartelette) and can confirm she uses real food. The book is a great resource for anyone interested in either food styling or food photography — and I say this as someone who has taken many food-styling and -photography classes.
(Full disclosure: Helen’s also an awesome friend.)
Joan Crawford would have approved of ‘fake food for photos’. Reality is for the birds.
I love the idea of photographing melting ice cream. For me, part of the excitement is cooking and photographing and scrambling for the right light. I photograph things in my kitchen, not in a studio, and almost always in natural light. The entire process–even the cooking, many times–is instinctive for me and I think the spontaneity, suspense and discovery is what’s fun.
Fake food styling has got to be the brainchild of processed food marketers. They seem to go hand in hand, if you ask me. I hope you do take that mole to the class and may the grease glisten!
Yep…100% food all the time when I am both photographer and stylist. Furthermore, none of the stylists I have worked on cookbooks or magazine where I was the photographer used fake foods.
I don’t know of any publications here doing it. We might enhance shine and glisten but with water sprays and a dab of oil…no motor oil for me…!
I usually like to sample the food I shoot, either for my blog or work!
Thank you for this post, call me naive but I was not aware that other countries still used fake foods. It takes a little bit more work and more techniques but it is worth it and so much more organic and natural to a an artist’s process.
Maybe it’s all about keeping things in balance?
Like airbrushing…a little bit is “ok”, but a Mariah Carey album cover….too far!
Certainly, when speaking about credibility, real food is better. Maybe in the world of advertising and marketing REAL just isn’t always possible. But when the product being photographed is is nothing more than lard and food colouring? Ummm, no thanks!
Ewwww, that’s gross!
But yeah, I guess it’s like magazines who post models who have been airbrushed to high heaven. Reality doesn’t sell according to them.
What a great post and I agree with you 100%…let’s keep it real!
I think that Helene DuJardin (who commented on this previously) has proven that photographing food in its natural stage is possible and desirable. Down with the fake stuff!
Hello again! Loving this discussion but wanted to return to shed some new light on some points here.
1. When you see McDonald’s and Fast Food ads the chances are that the food is indeed 100% real. Well, “real” as much as their food can be. Of course it doesn’t look like what you’d get if you walked in and ordered it yourself but when showing food we must use the real product. A food stylist can take boxes of their food, dozens of heads of lettuce and find the perfect piece to assemble a burrito or burger.
2. Fake food wasn’t necessarily the brain child of large food conglomerates. You have to remember that photography was all done with film and medium format cameras before the advent of digital. And you didn’t just snap a photo: you had to take off the film back from the camera, attach the polaroid back, take a photo, wait 2 minutes for the polaroid to develop, peel it away, look at the image with a loupe to make sure it was in focus and ONLY IF it was good would you take off the polaroid back, attach the film back, and create your photo. The food would sit on the set that ENTIRE TIME hence the tips and tricks. These days you simply put a good stand-in while using live preview or shooting tethered, fix your image, then swap out the real food before the final shot. Of course this is oversimplifying but generally how it’s done.
Thank goodness for speed and real food! 🙂
And Helene: I’m not aware of any other countries using fake food either but I know we all adhere to our federal truth-in-advertising laws and of course I imagine it’s different for different countries.
Excellent point about the previous use of film, etc. I hadn’t considered that but it makes a lot of sense. GCK
Food porn is a craze now, I think, it’s out of hand. I’m a purist, I want it real, I want it messy, I want it sloppy, lopsided, plate with the sauce uneven, a little on the tablecloth because I’ve spilled it.
Sometimes it’s not that it’s too ugly to eat, just too delicate to photograph-like ice cream. And to be honest, ice cream is usually lard, sugar and chocolate chips anyway. Just frozen. I read the label on the Holanda, I know there is little to no dairy in it! Jerks!
That’s why I get my ice cream from local vendors! No pictures, just the ice cream in the bucket for me to oggle!
Wow. I thought this sort of practice was abandoned years ago — in fact illegal in many circumstances because it’s false advertising. There are so many incredible photographers shooting real food that it seems whomever is in charge of the curriculum — or the instructor — hasn’t a clue about what’s current.