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People buy with their eyes. In this small setting of 3 ft. x 3 ft., we create a world that says, “I want to be there…relaxing, eating delicious food.” So, food styling is all about selling, basically. But, not unlike fashion, food styling goes through style trends. A recent Wall Street Journal article, by Miriam Gottfried, discusses the current trend toward more a natural, almost “messy” look in food photographs. No matter what fashion in food styling prevails, my personal aesthetic and professional policy are both honesty and simplicity.

For an expert’s reaction to this story, I asked veteran food stylist Lisa Cherkasky, one of my favorite collaborators. She explains that her initial approach to styling a project is to weigh its parameters. “For each job, one of the most important challenges facing the stylist is answering this question: ‘What is being sold? Is it a recipe, a product, an ingredient, a lifestyle?’ That can help to determine what direction to take in styling. Just how perfect, or imperfect, should the on-set food be?”

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Cheeks like apples, lips like cherries, ears like…(well, ears of corn). These timeworn similes wax literal and fantastical in the works of Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526-1593). The National Gallery of Art will exhibit “Arcimboldo, 1526–1593: Nature and Fantasy,” the exclusive US showing of this 16-piece collection, which opens on September 19 and runs through January 9, 2011.

As an artist who mostly works with food and enjoys creating whimsical, sculptural pieces to photograph, Arcimboldo always fascinates me. I want to see how his work inspires you! Visit the exhibit and/or find images online for Arcimboldo (also spelled Archimboldo). Then, see what creeps into your imagination at the farmers’ market or the grocery store! Here are some examples of how he inspires me and others.

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Russian scientists died protecting an invaluable collection of seeds and plants during the Nazi Seige of Leningrad. They literally starved rather than eat the only nutrients available—the potatoes and seeds in the collection they protected. Their heroism shows how strongly they believed that the assets of the Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry are irreplaceable. The Institute, in St. Petersburg (as the city is now known), is a centuries-old repository for catalogued seeds and plants.

Saved from the Nazis and Stalin (who imprisoned Vavilov for his genetics research), the Insitute is now imperiled because the land it sits on may be sold by the Russian government to private developers. International scientists agree the loss of this resource would be tragic for the entire world.

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Diane sends us to the Philo Apple Farm. It’s an organic orchard specializing in heirloom varieties, located in the Anderson Valley of Mendcino County. The fruit stand there is pretty casual. All their product is just sitting out, with a simple box where you leave your money, honor-system style.

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