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The New York Times
Food Styling: The Art Of Making the Basil Blush
"Most of it is common sense," said Sarah Greenberg,
32, a newcomer to the business in New York who worked previously
as a pastry chef at Le Cirque.
With all those realities in mind, Ms. Greenberg was preparing
for a television session for Ragu spaghetti sauce one recent
afternoon. The commercial was to advertise a line of new
sauces, and she needed to prepare a perfect bowl of pasta.
Not knowing exactly when the dish would be needed, Ms.
Greenberg had been on her feet since about 8 A.M., cooking
mountains of rigatoni and separating out any shells that
had been torn during cooking. She rubbed the rigatoni with
vegetable oil so the pieces would not stick together, and
covered them with plastic.
It was not until 4 P.M. that the photographer was ready
to shoot the pasta. And it was only then that the art director
- the person responsible for the overall design - discovered
that the rigatoni Ms. Greenberg had spent all day preparing
did not have angular ends. (No one had told her to cook
rigatoni with angular ends.)
So she started anew. Three hours and four pounds later, the
shot was completed.
"This kind of thing happens all the time," she said cheerily. |
