...according to Ekarin Yusuksomboon, 43
Your job is to look at food from a different perspective
When I was a food writer at Elle Decoration Thailand magazine, I got to assist foreign food stylist Alexandra Rawlinson who has a unique working style. She looked at food from a perspective that is different from ours. She inspired me to discover many ways of seeing food. That was when I started becoming interested in food in broader fields: food culture, home-cooked food, food trends and food-related art. I’ve discovered other ways to present food besides writing.
Not every food stylist can cook
Cooking is considered an advantage for a food stylist, but not essential. I can’t cook. What’s more important are art basics, knowledge about food and know how to get the job done.
There are no set-in-stone tips to make the food look photogenic
There are many different ways to make food look photogenic. For instance, if you are shooting prawn, you may need to try changing the composition, putting the prawn’s tail up or putting it upside down, or using a thin wire to bend it into any shape you wish. To make sure bean sprouts served in pad Thai don’t look soggy, you need to quickly soft-boil them followed by a soak in cold water. You can’t grill meats like pork and chicken too much as they will look dry. You should only grill meat from the outside, so the inside remains juicy when you cut it.
When it comes to food styling, the story comes first
You need to know what you are telling the audience. If you want to tell a story of the food itself, use a white background to put the focus on the food. If you want to present a certain dish, like pad Thai, your presentation must include all the key pad Thai elements: noodles, prawns, tofu, and chai po (stir-fried pickled turnip). But if you want to present pad Thai in a modern way, it can be served Michelin star-style on a simple plate and without the noodles. So you need to ask yourself, what is the story you want to tell.