Food is a big part of every single culture. Most countries have their own unique dishes that distinguish them from others. Photographers are taking photography to another level. They’re taking pictures of dishes which look mouthwatering to promote food. However, some photographers use food as a form of art. For instance, in NPR’s “Appetizing Art of Food Photography,” it show us how food is a big part of different cultures, and also makes the food look very appetizing. In “Food for Thought” by Robert Mann, he uses not only food, but also cooking elements, seasonings, posters about food, and other different food related objects. He doesn’t try to make the food look appetizing, he tries to make the pictures look like art. Irvin Penn Food Portraits also tries to make his food photography look like art, though, he uses actual food by setting it up on a place nicely, and perhaps add some vegetables and other materials to make it look better. Although very nice looking, not as appetizing as NPR’s food photography. Nevertheless, food can be very useful as art nowadays, photographers are using dishes to either promote food, or just to make it look artsy.
Life is art, and art is open for interpretation. Some people appreciate the food by its taste, but some people even extend their aesthetics to the visual look of the food. In the history of photography, we have been seeing different movements, for examples, pictorialism and straight photography, while pictorialists tried to make photos look like paintings, photographers who were into straight photography tried to make photos look like photos, even both of them were trying to get photography the recognition as a form of fine art. Similar things happen to food photography, either the photographers who took the pictures that are shown in NPR, or Robert Mann or Irvin Penn, their goal is the same, to make the food look good, or even try to delivery the message that food can be a form of art.