Food by Design - styling foods for advertising - Brief Article

It's hard to resist those mouthwatering food advertisements on television--tantalizing enough to make you phone for a delivery from your favorite take-out joint. Then there are those cookbook and magazine recipes with accompanying photos that make you actually get off your duff to test your mettle in the kitchen. Your reaction is no accident. The images you see are meticulously planned, down to the amount of fizz in the soda.

Everything looks perfect in those advertisements because everything is perfect. Behind the scenes, making sure that the warm mozzarella on the pizza stretches for what seems like yards or that the golden brown holiday turkey is complemented with ruby-red cranberries and emerald-green sprigs of parsley, is a professional food stylist.

Carolyn Avelino, a food specialist based in Southern California, reveals the lengths to which she goes to make food look good enough to eat: "I arrive on the set very early in the morning, often before 7, to set up for the shoot. I won't leave the studio until 10 or 12 hours later. For one of those holiday turkey commercials that you see at Thanksgiving and Christmastime, I'll bake at least 10 turkeys, because each turkey is different and each angle is different and you have to remember that a turkey viewed through a lens and then through a television screen will be perceived differently than a turkey you see with your naked eye. I have to account for all of that when I set up for a shoot."

Avelino's style and flair are in constant demand. When she leaves the studio after a 12-hour shoot, she may go straight to her test kitchen to develop recipes. She mixes and matches ingredients, searching for the ultimate combination that will please the palates of her clients and their consumers. Her client list includes Hunt-Wesson, Nissin, Denny's and Taco Bell. Avelino finds great reward in knowing that millions of people across the country are eating her culinary creations nightly in their favorite restaurants or at home, in the comfort of their own dining rooms.

Southern California is a busy world, far away from Hope, Ark., where Avelino grew up. In her great-grandmother's kitchen, where delicious tea cakes were made, she learned to love food and cooking. "I'd never considered working with food as a career option," she says, reflecting on her high-school years. "I'd planned to teach--that's what you did if you studied home economics. Then there was career clay at my school, and one of the ladies at a large food company came in to talk about her career in the recipe development department. That intrigued me, so I wrote to her and asked her more about her job. She was kind enough to write me back, and we stayed in touch."

Avelino went on to receive her bachelor's degree in home economics and business from California State University at Los Angeles. She didn't realize then that the market would grow ripe for a career in the food industry. As the industry has evolved, the degrees and titles have evolved as well. "These days they have all sorts of titles for work being done in the field--food technologist, consumer specialist--but it is still one of those hidden careers," says Avelino. For example, her recipes have been published in several cookbooks, but the credit for them goes to her clients.

In addition to food styling and recipe development and testing, her services include new product development and testing, food service, and publicity. Her job "has the benefit of flexibility and variety, but it also has the challenge of long hours and constant hat juggling," she says.

Avelino has advice for you, when cooking for family and friends or even just for yourself: "Be sure to balance texture and color on the plate and at your table." Avelino reminds us that people eat with their senses of sight and smell as well as with their sense of taste. For a few good ideas she suggests that you look in cookbooks or watch television shows about cooking. "Start to notice the creative touches that professionals employ to enhance your appetite; notice the way your food is served in restaurants; and take heed of the serving suggestions displayed on food products. Presenting food is yet another way that we can be creative in our everyday lives."

D.T. Lee is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C. Her last article for American Visions, "Young, But Seasoned, Hotel Chefs," appeared in the December/January 1999 issue.

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