Student works....................

These are some students work on food styling........................

..........................so what do you think?

What does food stylist creates...........

Most people probably are unaware of the level of thought, effort and care that goes into the work of a food stylist. It really takes a lot of effort to compose the idea and concept into a plate. Creation is just not for the sake of creating. Food stylist need to transform and translate the concepts and ideas that are agreed upon with the client to be presented in a more harmonies and photogenic manner, so it look good as it is intended to be. Remember a good tasty food should not only taste good it must in the first place - "look good". Food stylist need to engaged with the act of composing, or in the other word putting and arranging a whole combining parts of particular product – it is a work of art so as to form a unified and harmonies presentation. As this is important because food do communicate, so it the responsibility of the food stylist to create a food that is communicating positively to its audience.

Introduction to Food Styling

Do you know why food photograph look almost perfect, tempting and deliciously irresistible? Probably some of you may have heard about food styling. It is the arts and sciences to make foods look beautiful for photos in magazines, cookbooks, and advertising. Food Styling usually referred to the act of styling food, so it look goods (deliciously which it is suppose to be) in a photograph or film. The preparation, or in a more specific word “styling” of food can be involved as deceptively simple as shopping for a nice looking or in other word perfect apple to as extreme as re-creating an elaborate spread of banquet dinner function. The task of creating appealing images of food is not an easy process. Arts, sciences and patience are fundamental apart from a good foundation knowledge and skill of culinary skill is a must.

Here is a photo of a simple grill sirloin steak that have gone through a process of styling - a basic technique taught at foundation program of Food Styling class.

Food Stylist...............

Most person who are interested in the Culinary Arts choose to work in the kitchen as a Chefs. either at hotel or restaurant or some probably ended-up as a R&D Chef in a food processing factory. However there some Chef (only a few bunch of them) choose to work in an unusual culinary careers - the Food Stylist.

So, what does a Food Stylist do?
Food stylists combine culinary arts and sciences, skills and knowledge to prepare food for the camera for cookbook and advertising photographs, labeling, packaging, television commercials, and scenes in movies. Food Stylists are a person responsible to make food looks freshly made and appetizing in front of a camera to make it look not just another photo. A basic knowledge in Culinary Arts especially with a formal background in culinary qualification is considered as a must to become food stylist, as the job requires extensive knowledge of how food acts, both aesthetically and scientifically. In Malaysia there are hardly any Chef that are seriously considered Food Stylist as a profession................it is still long way to go.

Here are some photograph to share with all of you.

Introduction to Japanese Cuisine

My second book Introduction to Japanese Cuisine which is written in Bahasa Malaysia with a title"Pengenalan Kepada Masakan Jepun" is out early July 2009, published by UPENA (UiTM). This book is dedicated to those who appreciate Japanese foods. Those who are looking for halal foods, this book give guideline for substitution of the non-halal ingredients. For example the usage of Sake and Mirin in Japanese cuisine are replaced with halal ingredients. And for ingredients which are difficult to find locally a substituion are suggested. Hope this book will give some benefit to those who love cooking and enjoy eating Japanese foods.

Presenting the pancake

The creative process begin with................

preparing the syrup for pancake, right consistency and right texture and............

pancake in the making...............

assembling the pancake

Presenting a pancake not an easy task.....................and my phtography skill is still a long way to go.