Lucky for me, every few years I
go to Antibes, France with my family. When that happens I feel
compelled to photograph almost everything I eat, before I eat it. There
are two reasons for this ritual: One, French food is so gorgeous it's
just begging to be photographed. Two, photographing it is almost my way
of saying grace for and being mindful of the bounty of food (and, trust
me, it's bountiful) I'm about to consume. Food is fleeting. The photos
are forever.
For the last two trips I've posted these collections on Facebook and have received a really positive response. It sometimes amazes me how much pleasure people take in looking at photographs of food they can't taste, but I suppose that goes hand-in-hand with people who love TV shows about food they also can't taste (see: The Food Network).
1. When I arrived in Antibes, my mother had picked up some peaches and strawberries at the daily open-air market in Antibes. Those strawberries were some of the sweetest I'd ever tasted, and after that the purchase and immediate consumption of them became a daily ritual.
It turns out that there is heaven on earth. And it lives in an inauspicious plastic saucer, covered in cling wrap.