I was a chef for about 10 years and I can honestly tell you that most chefs probably don't care what you do with their food as long as you pay for it. Now, hopefully, people eat it and appreciate it. Look at it first. Smell it. Take a bite, chew slowly and savor. And repeat. But if people want to take a photo, too, that's fine. If they want to wrap it up in tinfoil where it gets smashed up and soggy, well that's less fine, but whatever its their food. Throw it at people...whatever.
There's a certain subconscious realization that ultimately food get's eaten and turned into shit; so really, once the act of creation is done and the food has left the kitchen, it's all shit anyway, so do what you want.
Now, with that said, there are a lot of "artist types" that are chefs, so yeah, I don't find it hard to believe one or two of them out there pull the eccentric primadonna card and go "NO! No photograph my food!"
The article does make a good point, however: people need to be present during and experience, in the moment. If you're spending a few minutes taking pictures, then eating the thing (like sushi) in a manner of seconds, you're doing it wrong. You should use your mind to absorb the details, it picks up all five senses whereas a picture only reminds you of one. Even better, memory sort of romanticizes certain things;, so as time goes on that sushi dinner becomes even better. A photograph reminds you that, no, it didn't actually happen that way. Sorry but I like my memories to be fond ones and not so literal.
@Serraph105 said:
@tenaka2: People do that all the time with food. Whether for business or for pleasure, it's hard to keep a recipie a complete secret. Even if it's not copied exactly people come up with their own versions all the time.
I don't think it has anything to do with keeping secrets. If the food was that good, then the secret is in the technique and preparation, not the presentation.
This is more about ego.
@tenaka2 said:
No they should not, I think of it as intellectual property rights. People could talk pictures in attempts to copy the work.
Not really. You can't take a picture of a bottle of coke and suddenly make coke.
Hell, you can't even make coke if you get the ingredients to coke (something they released) because you don't know the time, temperature, and amounts used in the preparation. You could make a poor copy or maybe even one that comes close, but it won't be the original thing.
This is why being recognized as the originator of something in the food world is so important, maybe even more important than keeping the recipe secret; you ever notice how a lot of places are called "Original ________" or "Home of the Original ______" and so forth?
Log in to comment