Food Stylists are paid to intentionally trick us with mouthwatering food appearances, despite the fact that the food you see might not be real or edible.
What is a Food Stylist? This is a creative professional hired to make the food that appears in commercials and photos. If a burger from your favorite fast food chain looked the way it does when you take it through the drive-thru window, you probably wouldn’t be as mesmerized by the commercials. This is where the pros come in and create the appearance we want to see and dream of for our favorite foods.
What do these food pros do to trick us?
Tricking might be a little too strong of a word, even though it’s essentially what’s going on. These professionals work to make food look more enticing and delicious. This could be using glue to replace mils in cereal commercials to create the desired consistency. They also might use browning agents on raw chicken to make it look fully cooked. Imagine if you ate that chicken right from the set; you’d probably become sick. There’s a ton of time, energy, science, and experimentation that goes into creating the perfect look for the food that will appear in commercials and photos.
What’s considered for still images?
The way the food will be captured in film is a huge factor in what Food Stylists use to create a mouthwatering look for the food. Many of these professionals specialize in social media posts, blog posts, magazines, and print ads. This means they have to keep in mind how the images will be used to ensure they look the best. Here are some things they must keep in mind while filming food:
- Backdrop – The background gives the image more character and appeal. If the focus is on the food item, a plain, dark backdrop tends to work best.
- Story – You might think the story with any food item is that the food is supposed to be delicious, but that’s not the whole story. It’s important to understand the story and the message when filming food
- Food collage – Using a food collage allows the team to plan the process and experiment with various food elements and ideas before settling on the right one for the pictures.
What goes into the commercials?
Commercials are nothing more than short videos with a strong sales pitch. Food Stylists must understand lighting, angles, and how the videos will be filmed to capture the food. Many commercials appear to move around the food and capture it from various angles, which gives life and movement to the inanimate object, the food. A regular food commercial can cost a company more than $100,000, which is a huge chunk of an advertising budget. This cost is a huge part of why you often don’t see food commercials for smaller companies compared to those from larger, well-established chains.
Filming commercials requires a lot of technology, traditional imagery, and moving parts. You might not think that to be the case with food, but the food is only the center of the filming but, not everything that goes into it.
Why does food look so good in movies?
In movies, the actors are often shown eating the actual food, which means Food Stylists can’t rely on fake food, cardboard cutouts, or altered substances. Unfortunately, due to the real nature of the food in films and the number of reshoots some movies require, the amount of real food can become cumbersome. Imagine an actor eating dozens of eggs on set because of several retakes. This would put the actors’ health at risk, but some chefs who are also Food Stylists have come up with creative solutions.
Sometimes, actors have allergies to the food being used, or the environmental conditions of an area don’t allow for the desired foods to be used. In these cases, chefs come up with unique solutions that work well as substitute items. In one such case, a chef made substitute egg yolks out of edible mango and orange spheres, which would certainly be preferable to eating several egg yolks.
Experience and experimentation
Being a Food Stylist is a challenging job. In some cases, the goal is to create fake food that looks amazing and can be shown in pictures or commercials, but in movies and television shows, this food is often eaten, requiring real food to be used. Regardless, it’s the job of Food Stylists to create a delicious, mouthwatering appearance that makes viewers want to enjoy the food being displayed.
