How we make it yummy

Any schmo with a copy of the Joy of Cooking can make something taste good. On the other hand, it takes well-placed lighting, expensive cameras and a little olive oil to make things look good.

I find one of the biggest benefits of working for a start-up company is the opportunity it offers. You know... the opportunity to do the work of five people, the opportunity to work 24/7, the opportunity to work without health insurance...*

Last week I had the opportunity to spend some time as a food fluffer (well, okay... a food stylist) on a photo shoot for our new brochure. My day began with unpacking all the platters our catering manager sent over to the on-site. Luckily, our catering manager does good work, so that made my job a breeze.

I spent most of the day polishing grapes with a lightly oiled paper towel, selecting and arranging blemish-free oranges, smoothing terrines, stacking and fanning meats and cheeses, artfully tossing pinches of chiffonade herbs or lemon zest, and holding bounce boards so our photographer could direct the light "this way, no... back a little... yeah, just stand right there just like that."

Thankfully, this is not the food styling of yesteryear, when food professionals applied lacquers and stains to turkey skins, tossed marbles into the bottom of soup bowls (to make the bits of meat, vegetables and noodles look more plentiful) and substituted craft glue for glistening milk in cereal bowls. All the food I primped not only looked tasty... it was tasty. We either ate or gave every morsel of it away afterward. (mmm... pâté terrine...)

Exciting? Well, not exactly. As with movie shoots and band gigs, one imagines there's far more glamour to the gig than actually exists. Ultimately, it's much ado about glamour shots... of food.

Satisfaction comes when you see the images in print. Success comes when the everyman believes in the fantastic world of convivial dining you've created and when he tries to recreate it for himself.

But oh, my! Check out the way all that professional attention makes something as humble as my sugar bowl look expensive and desirable:



*That's actually a joke about my last office job. Improbably, this company pays pretty well, offers a dental plan and is giving us all frozen turkeys for Thanksgiving. I can't complain.