Potatoes instead of ice cream and hairspray? Learn the secrets of working as a food stylist

Food is the second-best category (right after pornography, sic!) of Internet search. The blame for this should not be attributed to marketing departments, food manufacturers or chefs – it is the needs of our brain that make an increasing group of people actively search for images depicting food. Of course, some of them are looking for beautiful photos, while at the same time reflecting on how they were taken, and then get on... training videos. 

The profession of a food stylist has long been shrouded in a certain mystery. Unsurprisingly, relatively few people do this. Thus, myths about this activity are circulating on the Internet, and the ba network is rich in food Styling Inspiration. To date, many videos have been created in which cunning investigators expose the working methods of food stylists. 

If you're interested in this topic, you've probably already seen ice cream made from purée mozzarella cheese on pizza, which wasn't really cheese, but hot glue. It's hard not to mention coffee instead of cola, or fried chicken sprayed liberally with hairspray, so that it glitters beautifully in the frame and causes drool… 

Are you sure this is true? Is the ball really there purée do fries placed on a dessert cup look like ice cream?

Even if the structure of both masses may seem similar, what about the vitreous, fusible, or even wetness of the substance? Looking at purée "we're salivating"? Is there any additional work required to achieve this effect?

I'll leave the question open. While.

Now let's take a look at the cheese on pizza, which, according to these revelations from the internet, is made from glue mixed with grated cheese. 😉 

We are well aware of what a freshly baked pizza looks like compared to one that has already passed some time. It takes about the same amount of time to prepare such a pizza filled with pseudo-cheese. Cooking this effect, according to the instructions from the Internet, requires just so much time that the pizza has already aged, the cheese has concentrated, and all this has received a rather unattractive appearance. Add to this the difference in color between the cheese already on the pizza and the white (the color of glue) that we just found on the pizza. Someone will say: We have the XXI century, we have computers and post-production. To this I will answer: all this is an additional cost…

Someone has worked hard to discover all the subtleties of the work, but this is not the right way.

Let's also look at the following effect „wow " from the Internet, which I really like-it's about coffee with foam from Cola and dishwashing liquid! Cola, even after boiling, continues to carbonate, creating a fog of many bubbles above the surface, which is difficult to hide in the frame (which, however, is willingly and proudly used by its manufacturers to advertise its refreshing power).

The foam made from any detergent certainly has a long life span, but each of its eyes, each bubble, has an iridescent sheen and is certainly too large for the foam present in any type of coffee.

example: https://vimeo.com/foodstylistpl Source: Joanka Sikora's portfolio

Will the hairspray make the dish appetizing?

If you use hairspray on a chicken or other dish that is greasy in itself (such as meat, cold cuts, fish, or cheese), it will create a lot of small meshes on the surface. Contrary to what the internet says, the varnish will not be evenly distributed. Perhaps it can create a uniform layer that will eventually separate from the food and create a crusty effect. 

In turn, if you use hairspray for vegetables or fruits – you deprive yourself of the opportunity to soak them with water. What does it mean? You will deprive yourself of a better way to create the main message: I am a delicious, juicy and fresh fruit-eat me!

Let's go back to carbonated drinks.

Carbonated drinks, by their very nature, lose gas quickly. According to food Styling experts on the Internet,to prevent gas loss, it is enough to add an effervescent tablet, such as aspirin, to the drink. I'll ask you then: how can I hide a pill lying at the bottom of a glass in the frame? What about the remnants of that pill floating on top of the drink along with the bubbles? What about the foam that starts pouring out of your glass uncontrollably? 

Exactly. Videos with stylists ' tricks do not raise such questions. 

example: https://vimeo.com/foodstylistpl Source: Joanka Sikora's portfolio

So what about potatoes and hairspray? Nothing at all. 

Finally, to summarize and not leave you unanswered, I will add: yes, Food stylists use many different methods to achieve the desired effect. However, they stem from methods developed over the years, so I wouldn't call them "tricks". 

I would close the secret of food Styling with one sentence-Food styling is nothing more than increasing the sugar content in sugar – as the classic beautifully put it. 🙂

Once again, nature is too good to replace it with something else. You just need to watch her, learn to draw conclusions from what she sees.And use it to create the beauty of nature.