Food Photography | Page 4 of 24 | The Rambling Epicure

Simple Sustenance: For Breakfast or Dessert — Yogurt with Sweet Spices and Rose Petals

Published by Renu-Chhabra + Monday, April 29, 2013 Permalink 0

Food is art and magic; it evokes emotion and colors memory, and in skilled hands, meals become greater than the sum of their ingredients. — Anthony Beal

Sweet spices like cardamom and fennel, rose petals and rose water, pistachios and golden raisins

I am loving it already.

Flavors and scents I can taste and sense just by the mention of their names! They are very close to my heart. I grew up around them, or I can say I was often surrounded by them.

Cardamom and fennel used in sweet and savory dishes perfumed our kitchen with their intoxicating aroma. Rice pudding, pilaf, spiced tea, rich sauces, and several sweets are just a few to name. Rose petals and rose water to greet guests on special occasions, or simply to flavor sweets and drinks, made every experience memorable. Nuts and dried fruits in creamy sauces or in decadent desserts stamped food tastes forever in my mind.

Do I need say that I cherish these scents and flavors? We all have experiences from childhood, interwoven with lots of love and memories close to our hearts.

1 cup plain yogurt (Greek or regular)

1 green cardamom

What we’re reading at The Rambling Epicure

Published by Jonell Galloway + Sunday, April 28, 2013 Permalink 0

Click here to catch up on your food-related reading for this week:

food art exhibit in Valencia, Spain
3 books more filling than food
is French cuisine a victim of its own success?
Monsanto doesn’t want you to know what you’re eating
can eating healthy actually save you money

and much more.

New on The Rambling Epicure: List Your Real Food or Photo Blog

Published by Jonell Galloway + Friday, April 26, 2013 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

We’ve just created a widget in the right-hand sidebar that allows all real food sites, blogs and readers to enter their URL on our list of visitors, whether it be a recipe, photo, news, farming, or other real-food related site. All you need to do is enter your RSS feed URL. Sign up soon so we can form a community of like-minded people!

From artsy

Photo courtesy of Ilian

to philosophical and literary

The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture (Photo credit: elycefeliz)

Food Art: Antipasti Feast, food photography by Meeta Khurana Wolff

Published by Jonell Galloway + Monday, April 1, 2013 Permalink 0

See more food photo compositions at Meeta K. Wolff or in our Food Art category.

Food Art: Rumanian Painted Easter Eggs, The Resurrection

Published by Jonell Galloway + Sunday, March 31, 2013 Permalink 0

Food Art: Fresh Radishes and Radish Chutney, food photography by Lail Hossain

Published by Jonell Galloway + Thursday, March 14, 2013 Permalink 0

You can see more of Bangladeshi photograph Lail Hossain’s work on her site.

Simple Sustenance: Flavors of the Mediterranean — Parsley, Dill, and Bean Dip with Feta

Published by Renu-Chhabra + Wednesday, March 13, 2013 Permalink 0

by Renu Chhabra

“Salt is born of the purest of parents: the sun and the sea.” –– Pythagoras

Pass the salt please.

We hear this often while eating meals. I sometimes think what life in the kitchen would be without salt. Nature’s pure offering and staple of any pantry! It’s one ingredient that can put life in any recipe. Just a pinch of it does wonders. But it’s the right amount of it, according to one’s taste buds that makes a recipe sing….. not too much or too little. Hence the term, “salt to taste.”

Some overly salty feta cheese was the center to make this dip. It was too salty for our taste buds. Really salty. And wasting it seemed unnecessary. To give it a new life, I combined it with a few ingredients on hand. A can of unsalted garbanzo beans worked well to mellow the saltiness of the feta. Parsley added color and freshness, and dill enhanced it with its delicate flavor. Lemon juice and garlic brought all the flavors together. I finished it with olive oil and a sprinkle of sumac.

Food Art: When Food Comes to Life, food photography exhibit by ilian

Published by Jonell Galloway + Tuesday, March 12, 2013 Permalink 0

001

Image 1 of 16

ilian began his career in photography as a news photographer before moving to London and starting a new career in commercial photography, developing his own unique style, balancing commercial appeal with an acutely artistic eye.

He has over 15 years’ experience working in editorial and commercial projects, specialising in food and drink, still life and product photography, both locally and internationally. He shoots from his Cheshire-based kitchen studio. His clients are magazines, hotels, restaurants and food companies such Mornflakes, Felicini Restaurants, Metropolitan Hotel, Casino Flamingo, AstraZeneca, Manchester University, Sofia airport, etc.

His work appears in BBC GoodFood, Olive, Professional Photographer, Digital Photographer and The Rock magazines. His style is simple, clean and graphic, based on natural light. A passionate and talented cook himself, the enjoyment ilian takes from food and drink shines through in his images.

Click to see more of ilian’s outstanding work.

ilian has had more than ten solo photo exhibitions, the most successful ones being:

1998 ”Old Houses” – Sofia and 1999 Los Angeles

1999 “War in Kosovo” – Sofia

2000 “Mount ATHOS” – Sofia, London, Vienna, Thessaloniki, Warsaw, Bratislava and Plovdiv

2004 ‘Ballet Portraits’ – Sofia

2012 “Edible Art” – London, Moscow, Manchester, St. Petersburg, Sofia

Simple Sustenance: Roasted Acorn Squash with Fennel Seeds

Published by Renu-Chhabra + Tuesday, March 5, 2013 Permalink 0

by Renu Chhabra

Food is capable of feeding far more than a rumbling stomach.–Anthony Beal

I have seen this acorn squash change from deep green to light golden on my kitchen counter over the last two weeks. Waiting for my much needed attention, it endured the neglect. I had a new idea about how to cook it every time I looked at it, so I would set it aside for yet another day. I loved seeing it sitting there turning into this beautiful objet d’art with a new stroke of color every day.

I enjoyed the the entire process, from start to finish, just as Monet enjoyed painting the same haystacks and façades day after day, in different lights.

Who would have thought a simple experience like this could also bring such curiosity? Every time I looked at it, I wondered if it would survive another day. Or would another stroke of green be lost. I touched it, inspected it, and set it aside, saying to myself, “I will make something tomorrow. Definitely.”

And it waited patiently for me, just like the Rouen Cathedral waited for Monet, looking more beautiful each day, and maintaining its freshness!

With half a dozen ideas in my mind about how to cook it, I settled for a simple recipe of roasting it and flavoring with some sweet and fragrant flavors like orange zest and toasted fennel seeds. I then combined the two with sweet paprika and sea salt to make a spice blend to toss into after roasting. Another wonderful spice blend with citrus! My new year started with spice blends.

After tossing the roasted squash, I finished it with a garnish of freshly ground cumin and parsley and a squeeze of lemon (optional). Simple and flavorful, this recipe takes very little time to make. If you have any left over, use it in your favorite grain or salad.

Herbs and spices are good for our health. Fennel seeds have wonderful healing qualities. They help digestion and have antioxidant properties. Fennel is also chewed as mouth freshener. I sometimes make fennel tea that is quite relaxing. Have it with a little honey. It’s delicious and calming.