Food Art - Homeschooling Fun

Do you ever drool over those TV food commercials? This week our homeschool group learned a bit about the "art" of culinary photography and how they stage those delicious looking foods for magazines and TV.
Since my youngest daughter was sick on Monday, we had to miss our co-op, but we did not miss out on the FUN!



Here is a little "bite" out of what we learned at home:  (Thanks to my sweet friend for sharing all her hard work getting this together)

Most of the food is real, but not all of it is edible! We're talking pins, super-glue, paint, raw-uncooked meat (most of the time), paper towels, cotton balls.... and who knows what else makes that food look so delish!
We collected some of our information from the
Kids National Geographic - foods that fool you,
watched a video on How Stuff Works,
and saw some pretty cool works of food art from Web Urbanist.

Then we attempted to try our own food styling.

  "The Incredible Edible"

We made some "worms" with grapes

 Added them to apples 

 And this is what the kids created!

 I like how the worm looks like its going in one side and coming out of the other.

"Food Art"

We styled ice cream

 Of course food stylists can't take pictures of real ice cream. It would melt way before they were finished shooting. So they improvise. Here is how you can make your own. 

A little corn syrup, mixed with shortening, and then add some powdered sugar and Voila`

Delicious looking ice cream - without all the calories mind you!

(not recommended to eat- although kids did taste it) 

 Next we decorated with sprinkles, "candy" cherries,

 and took our food art photos.

Personally, I am not sure we would qualify for a magazine article, but the kids really like theirs like that! 

 Ok... So I couldn't let the kids do it on their own.

 I had to try my luck at it too.

It was fun! And I staged the photo at the beginning of this post too.

 "Still Life"

The kids did most of this but I helped a little because it was getting quite "crazy" towards the end. 

All in all, it was quite an educational and exciting school day for us. So do either of my children want to be food stylists when they grow up? Nope! And although the money sounds great... I am not sure that is my cup of tea either. 

Did you know those delicious looking foods on TV were not the "real thing"? No wonder when we go sample them, they can disappoint! And no wonder whenever I try to photograph that yummy pumpkin roll, or cake I made, it does not look as yummy in the photo. I would love to hear your thoughts...