The Best Lunch! And it makes for a great photo op.

I solely believe that food is art despite the particular model of camera. With the advancement in food technology and techniques, any type of food can become an edible masterpiece. As portrayed in our class, food can be as artistic as Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” such as the “Double Mona Lisa” by Vik Muniz that we discussed which entirely consisted of peanut butter and jelly. As well as his other art works like “Action Photo, After Hans Namuth”, which depicts the recreation of Hans Namuth’s photograph of Jackson Pollock painting in his studio. The portrait was created solely from chocolate syrup.

Pictures that are captured on a cellular device can be considered as art based on one’s perception of artistic value within photography. Sometimes, food-themed pictures taken from cell phones are only for entertainment purposes. In this modern day society of social media, sharing interesting personal thoughts and intimate moments through havens such as Instagram, can show their food encounters in a more universal setting. But food pictures can possess certain qualities that express issues in an abstract, artistic way. “Frozen Foods with String Beans” by Irving Penn displays the complex truth about the nutritional values of frozen foods based on shapes, sizes and, ultimately, coloring through his portraits. There are many categories in the practice of photography and all can be evoke different levels of art. Irving Penn once said,

“A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart, and leaves

 the viewer a changed person for having seen it; it is in one word, effective.”

 (Behnke, “The Sunday Magazine: Irving Penn”, 2014)

When it came to food, he responded with this simplistic quote that explains all food themed pictures, “Photographing a cake can be art”. (BBC News, “American photographer Penn dies”, 2009)

Works Cited:

Behnke, M. (2014, July 13). The Sunday Magazine: Irving Penn. Retrieved September 11, 2014, from http://colognoisseur.com/tag/irving-penn/

American photographer Penn dies. (2009, October 7). Retrieved September 11, 2014, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8296030.stm

Taking picture of food, is one of my daily routines. At first it was just a fun way for me to kill time, and control the portion of food I was eating, but now it became a habit. I do take pictures of most of the food I eat and make, but I can proudly say that I am not obsessed. Some people just take the whole thing to the next level because they don’t know when to stop! I see people posting thousand pictures of food daily, and it makes me want to go like  ” please take it easy…”.Just like Mr. Javier Garcia from the article, I don’t post all the pictures I take online, I keep most of them for my personal record and look at them when I get bored. Due to the increasing number of people posting ridiculous pictures online, Katherine Markovich, published a book called ” AN OPEN LETTER TO PEOPLE WHO TAKE PICTURES OF FOOD WITH INSTAGRAM”, which is basically telling people that just because they consider themselves foodies and take pictures, doesn’t make them an artist. I think that book in a way, is addressed to people who literally take pictures of everywhere without taking into consideration their surroundings.

Our chef Jen took these photos of our first bread production. We are off to a great start. Here are some of the 12 steps of bread making:

#1 Scaling Ingredients

#2 Mixing

# 3 Fermentation-yeast converts sugars and starched into carbon dioxide (CO2) and alcohol.

#7 Benching relaxes the gluten, fermentation continues

#8 Make up  and         panning

ready for the proof box #9

Egg wash to make a shiny crust and it acts like glue to make the seeds stick. Egg washing bread is not one of the 12 steps

Venting product lets steam escape (it is not one of the 12 steps)

#10 Baking (in the oven)

#11 Cooling

Finished product- looks great. After #11 Cooling, it can be #12 sold, stored, or served