The Food Show

An unexpected perk of my new (no longer so new) responsibilities at work is the bimonthly food show. There's one happening today. Every two months, a tester makes six proposed recipes for the food pages and then brings them in so the editors (including me) and the art director and the photo editor and the assistants can critique the appearance of the dish and talk about the color and contrast and styling and props and how to photograph the food to make it look different from the last few shoots. And everybody's happy as we sit around the conference discussing the dishes, each one of us channeling memories of nurture. I so enjoy these sessions. I think it's because my husband loves to cook and my daughter is a foodie who sometimes talks about becoming a food photographer, owning a bakery, being a food stylist, or art directing her own gourmet magazine. Even though I have never had the remotest interest in culinary creations, suddenly, I can appreciate what goes into it, and if I imagine the food show through my daughter's eyes, it's even more fun. She did attend the last one; she came to my office after school and sat in quietly on the proceedings. Her eyes literally glittered with revelation. She arrived home excited to explain to her dad how we do it, the roles of the food tester, the prop stylist, the art director, everyone. I loved that my job afforded her that moment. So now, I'm a fan of the food show.