Lights, Camera, Cook

This week Khalil talks about food stylists and takes us behind the scenes of his video shoot for WEtv.com.

By Khalil Hymore

One of the questions I am asked most often when people find out that I work with food magazines is "What do you do to the food to make it look so good in the pictures?" Like everyone else out there, I have heard all of the same rumors, such as glue being used for milk, raw turkeys being "browned" with a blowtorch and some varnish, and the use of fake ice cream. The truth is, I have never experienced these tricks on any shoot that I have worked on. The main reason why food looks so good in magazines, books, and on television is because of a very talented group of folks out there called food stylists.

I often think of food stylists as superchefs. Why? Because they can swoop in and turn dull dishes into amazing culinary visions, which we all know is no small feat. And just for the record, I can honestly state that every food shoot I have been involved with has used real food made from the real recipe (or as close to the real recipe as time allows since food developing­--otherwise known as cooking--can be a long and involved process). Chances are that perfect cake you see in your favorite food magazine is the actual recipe, but that doesn't mean stylists never engage in some culinary tomfoolery.

Some of the legitimate "tricks" I have seen food stylists use to get the dish looking perfect are not that out of the ordinary. They've brushed meat with a little bit of water, olive oil, or pan drippings to give it a "just cooked" look. I've also seen them slice a cake and remove the "perfect" piece with a dowel or skewer to get it to the plate so it looks untouched. And of course, making many, many, many versions of a recipe to get the most beautiful dish is just standard practice.

While food on the set may look gorgeous, it would never be anything you would want to eat, even though it is a real dish. Food for shoots is often made days in advance, manipulated and touched by many hands, and has been sitting under hot lights for hours on end. Those old leftovers in your fridge with mold growing on them might be a safer bet!

Regardless of all the techniques that food stylists employ on video shoots, food styling really begins in the grocery store. Shopping for a culinary photo shoot is drastically different then shopping for your family. It takes three times as long because you literally have to select the most beautiful ingredients--peaches, for example, are a hard thing to shop for when food styling because they are often bruised in the grocery store, making it difficult to sift through all of the bad ones to find the perfect peach.

Recently, I got some hands-on experience with food styling for my very own shoot when WEtv asked me to develop some Tasty Dish video segments for the Website (stay tuned!). We shot 10 segments and I have to say, it was an amazing experience. It was my first time in front of the camera on a culinary set, which was an entirely different ball game for me. We shot the segments at a lovely house on Long Island, New York, and WEtv hired the nicest crew to work with me from City Lights Media. The producer, Kristin Hartley, helped me through the process of learning to cook for the camera, speaking to the audience, and even directing me to turn my frying pan one way or another. Kristen is an experienced culinary producer, having worked with Alton Brown, Paula Dean, and even Iron Chef Cat Cora. Being in such good hands certainly eased my nerves and helped me get comfortable in front of the camera quickly.

When trying out new recipes at home, don't be discouraged if your results don't live up exactly to the pictures in the magazines. Keep in mind that food stylists are often culinary school-trained chefs and show up to photo shoots with an arsenal of tools that the average home cook would never dream of using when working their magic. So when you take that lasagna out of the oven to serve your family and your private food stylist is away on vacation, just say "I went for the rustic look!"