Photos in 'Nose to Tail Eating'

[Wilfrid]

In another question, Vanessa - aptly I thought - drew an analogy between your direct, to-the-point writing style and your cuisine. I found the good-natured but no-nonsense approach exemplified not only in the text of 'Nose to Tail Eating', but also in the photos. In some ways, I think the photos are as revolutionary as the recipes. Dishes are shot directly from above, set out on a real (real looking, anyway) table. People have already started to eat them, and used cutlery - even resting on the plates - and glasses of wine are on display. This is such a departure from the pristine and pretty school of food photography.

Were you involved in this aspect of the design, and were you consciously attempting something very different?

[fergus]

Thank you again for the nice comments about the book, which hopefully will be back in the coming months.

As far as the look of the books goes, I remember seeing a photograph of a North African family eating chickpea porridge in an old Time Life book taken from above and it looked fantastic, more so than a bowl of chickpea porridge would look as a static object.

The pleasure captured in the photograph of the family eating the porridge struck a cord. Also photo's of restaurant food recreated for your to cook at home didn't seem to fit the spirit of the book.

Also, the whole process of cooking the dishes for the book at home, with friends eating it whilst Jason took the pictures, and watching him getting hungrier and eventually downing his tools to join in was all part of the great pleasure of doing the book.

Hopefully this is expressed in the photographs.