Catfish Out of Water

As a general rule, I don't like to edit my images and I am firmly against alteration of images in food blogs. It's not something that we generally think about when it comes to recipes! But food styling, editing, alteration, and even faking entirely is just as rampant a problem in the recipe realm as anything else.

It's likewise detrimental in creating an unrealistic expectation of how food looks as you cook it and what to realistically anticipate from the final result. This may seem bizarre compared to editing of the physique. Editing out body fat, cellulite, bags under the eyes, brightening the complexion, creating a thigh gap, whatever people are doing these days! Is incredibly detrimental to the psyche and creating unrealistic expectations.

But cooking is a very visual art. You can tell when a lot of foods are cooked based on the color. Salmon will turn from translucent red to opaque pink. Burritos and bread are lightly toasted and golden brown. Roasted vegetables are lightly charred and a light shade of black, but not burnt to a crisp and completely black. When you alter the coloration of photos, this makes it really difficult to tell when things are actually cooked!

So, as a general rule, I try very hard not to alter any of my photos. I like to take photos with natural sunlight during the day. Ordinarily this is very true to color and I don't edit the photos at all.

However, since my place is very warm with a lot of yellow lighting, sometimes my camera overcompensates and ends up with an unnatural blue tone.

But I Waaaaaaaaaant to Edit Photos

Now, don't get me wrong, my gut instinct is to edit images! I have a background in photography. I went to an art school from 7-12th grade. My dad was an amateur photographer. I have several old school 35mm cameras and digital cameras that were the height of technology in their day. I have multiple lenses that I can swap out with both of these varieties. And pretty much travel everywhere with a waterproof backpack with camera and laptop compartments. I have spent countless hours breaking open film canisters in a lightproof black bag with a bottle opener and wondering whether I've stabbed myself and am bleeding all over the negatives. When I buy my own house, one of the things on my eventual to-do list is to create my own dark room because I absolutely miss getting down and dirty with photography!

So every fibre of my being screams: Photoshop everything! Color correct everything! Put your best foot forward! Everyone else is!!

But the extent that food blogs have been highjacked by fake posts and unrealistic food styling, I can't help but push past this.

Food Styling Creates an Unobtainable Standard

Similarly to unrealistic body alteration and exceptions in post-production, food styling and editing makes cooking seem unobtainable. I'm perpetually in the dilemma of thinking, "I can't cook that...," "I can't make that...," "I don't have the equipment... or the skill... or the whatever! to pull that off."

And I absolutely detest this kind of thinking because it creates this expectation that cooking is a fantasy. That cooking is difficult to do, time consuming, and not worth the effort of us mere mortals.

Part of the reason for this is that food styling and editing does make cooking seem out of reach. When so much of what you see are marble countertops, perfect lighting, pristine wood cutting boards, and carefully choreographed hand towel placement? It just makes you look at your own kitchen and the everyday obstacles that make it seem like you don't compare.

Am I cooking in a sports bra and messy hair after a workout or just in the sweltering summer heat? Oh yes!

Is everything that I own covered in pet hair because I live in a 600 square foot apartment with two cats and a dog? Absolutely!

Do I use my food processor on the floor because my apartment came with 0 countertops and all of the plugs are in bizarre places? You betcha!

Nothing about my life screams fanciful food blogger. Nothing in my life screams fanciful anything... really. But worldly impediments don't mean that you can't cook!

When other people have an entire production staff, food stylists, photographers, editors, and all of the bells and whistles, it makes it seem like you can't compare. So, why bother trying to cook at all?

Cooking is Fundamental to Survival

But cooking is not nearly as difficult as all of this highly cultivated image makes seem. And I want to be a part of the movement that takes cooking back from the food stylists and says that you can do this. You can make this. And you can enjoy it in the process without having to worry about whether or not you measure up to an unrealistic standard.

At the very root of it, cooking is fundamental to survival.

A lot of foods that we cultivate aren't edible raw. Most meat and seafood aren't edible raw. A lot of grains and legumes aren't edible raw. The entire history of modern human beings is based on taking basic ingredients and cooking something both edible and delicious with them.

People like to talk about humans being hunter and gatherer societies, but so much of this isn't based on the ability to eat everything in sight. It's based on the ability to cook and make edible what was once not obtainable for us. It's arguably what makes us different from our brethren animals. We can't eat raw meat and legumes, but we have fire and can cook them. Which opens up an entire possibility of foods that weren't accessible to us before.

And I don't want to downplay the raw food movement. This had a resurgence about a decade ago and dominated the "health food" movement for quite some time. I both grow and eat tons of fresh fruits and vegetables. They're a huge staple of my diet and something that we could all probably eat a little bit more of!

But I am also a huge fan of cooking. And baking. And discovering new and interesting ways to play into and enhance the flavors of basic ingredients.

My Food Blog Goals and Expectations

More than anything, this food blog is my way of organizing recipes for myself. It would be nice if other people find inspiration and I'm always trying to convince everyone I know to cook more! But this is a passion project.

I'm an avid cook and occasional baker. I'm not good at following recipes, though, and incredibly bad at writing things down when I inevitably veer far off script. So, when it comes to remember what I did and why I did it and how to recreate it in the future? I'm hopeless!

This blog gives me a reason to write down ingredients, keep track of recipes, and take pictures of my food.

I don't do it for money. I make $0 off of it. The blog is actually incredibly time consuming and costs some money to create and maintain. It would be nice to make money someday and a lot of people turn their passion projects into a business. But that isn't the goal and certainly isn't what happens now!

Everything is made in my home, in my kitchen, with my kitchen appliances, on my plates, with my silverware. You get the bumps, scrapes, scratches, cat hairs, pet cameos and all! It's all real. This is my everyday life. It's rough and tumble, hurriedly thrown together on my lunch break, and lovingly cultivated.

Did I burn myself on a cast iron pan this week? Because it happens sometimes!

Did my cat scratch me doing some kamikaze death defying leap from the top of the refrigerator to my shoulders and scratch up everything in sight? Oh absolutely!

Did I dice up a bunch of turmeric and my knife, cutting board, fingers, and everything in between end up orange? Ohhhhhh yes, and I'll do it again!