For all food lovers

Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are

 - Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Agree or disagree? I wrote an essay about food culture and new customs. I'm very proud, because it was my first long essay in english. Bon apetit! 

The moment when you can stay with your family or friends and celebrate a dish together: It's makes the most solidary time between people because of strong tradition's position. Basically, the most important matter is people don't exist without eating. Sharing meals means about openness and trust. One of Greek sentences says that abundantly set on table is an agent of good relationships. 

pic from webside:
Gonzalez  Ramon,
World's first 'edible' cookbook that you read, prepare and eat

Author of Food is culture, Massimo Montanari, noticed that from earliest years we have learned tastes. Parents begin showing their children flavours by choosing the products they feed on. In that way people should look at food ambiguously. Perfect example appeared in 2012 when Gerstenberg Publishing House published an edible cookbook. This book was something more than instruction: it consisted on the main ingredients of original italian lasagne. It can be for example highlighted, that French and Italians, who were first in the field of products selection, divided the ingreadients, apropriate to each social level class of the society. Development of multimedia caused people start showing themselves through the dishes. People stopped taking food only as a necessary factor for existence. In really popular now virtual world and also in reality people pay attention for visual communication. So, what you eat is as important and just as valid as how it looks like. You can be vegetarian, hunter, lover of fast or healthy food and even more. It is a good way to exhibit habits, particular customs. Already in 1929, Ralph Steiner (1899-1989), who made his mark in the history of photography thanks to attention to details, had a vision of what an interestingly presented dish should look like:

Ralph Steiner - "Ham and eggs", 1929. 

Source: http://www.geh.org/taschen/m199607600001.jpg

When taking a picture >Ham and Egg< I rebelled when the editor of the female magazine's culinary department set up a plate of ragged ham and two overflowing eggs in front of my camera. I went to buy six dozen eggs and got the editor to put the ham and eggs in perfect circles and I made my own version of this classic dish.

Another controversial topic is the use of food to excite the potential customer for his shopping. This is a divisive topic because such performances should not be given the title of art. However, from the point of view of the author who creates his work - it is the most form of individual expression of himself and his emotions. The name food porn, or food pornography, is used to describe food representations found in magazines, the Internet or television programs. This is an illusion, the choice of colors or elements that give rise to specific associations. In 2009, journalist and cultural expert Mary Eberhardt called the food a new sex. Appetizing, even desiring photos drive us to a completely new trend. Pornography of food as well as sex is a kind of spectacle, creation, which makes them visual experience. This tendency focuses on visual perception, which is temptingly dangerous, because the viewer wants to enjoy the performances. Eberhardt noticed that the previous restrictions and taboos related to sexuality have been broken. The norms that were the signposts for our bodies have moved into the sphere of culinary arts. Currently, social media determines what to eat, where, with whom and in what way. Many aspects interact, from the similarities of the reproductive organs to certain fruits like bananas or figs to comparing the pleasure of costing with the bodily - sexual one. It is worth noting that the ingredients that previously reminded people about death today are symbols of sexuality. The English phrase “to pop somebody's cherry” means losing your virginity, because cherries are associated with sexual activity, fertility. Photographer Brandon Showers  reached for this theme, presenting the shot, on which you can see the lips of the model who is putting cherry on them. 

Other performances are presented by the artist, Lee Price, whose subject of interest is a woman and food. This is clearly seen in her oil paintings, which are similar to photographic prints. Price opposes the canon in which food porn is the domain of photography. The artist shows the figure of a woman in the most intimate moments - in the toilet, in the bathtub, on the bed, during sleep. Most often it is presented lying or sitting. In each of these moments she is accompanied by food. The portrayed does not pay attention to the world, its senses are directed to taste, fanatical cost. The figure on the images eats unhealthy dishes, most often pushing them with her hands to her lips.

Lee Price - "Refuge", 2010-2012. 

Source: http://www.leepricestudio.com/2010-2012/

There are many possibilities of interpretation here, but mainly the author shows the problem of consumerism. Buying, acquiring, promotions and discounts can not replace a real relationship, although for some they become addictions and a way to deal with problems. It's funny how much you can show through food.What will happen next?

Source: http://www.leepricestudio.com/recent-1/