A food and culture journal
One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. v i r g i n i a w o o l f (18 8 2 – 19 41)
Gustav Almestål is a photographer born and raised in the cold and windy parts of Sweden. He currently lives between Stockholm and London.
Patrick Baglee is a son of the Cumbrian Fells. He is a writer, typophile, disciple of St John, and low-quality chess player.
Baker & Evans are a London-based photographic duo. They first began working together during their final year of university, and have since gone on to shoot for the likes of Wallpaper*, Dazed & Confused, AnOther Magazine, and Topshop. Their work has also been exhibited at galleries in London, New York, and Los Angeles.
Natasha Hoare is an independent curator and writer from London. She is contributing arts editor for The Gourmand, and writes arts features for Elephant Magazine, Nowness, and Ibraaz. She is also assistant curator for the 2014 Marrakech Biennale, and studio manager for Mark Wallinger.
Ananda Pellerin is a London-based writer
Kyle Hugall is an English writer who lives
where she studied graphic design and started to take pictures, mainly of people. She later moved to London, where she completed an MA in photography and has been moving between London and São Paulo ever since. She now shoots not only people but anything that catches her eye with beautiful light or colours.
in New York City. His spirit animal is a pig, and he drinks a lot.
Jean Jullien is a French graphic designer living and working in London. His practice encompasses everything from illustration and photography, to video, costume, installation, books, posters, and clothing. His work has appeared in The Guardian and The New York Times.
and editor specialising in food, philosophy, and the arts. She is the editor for Penguin’s Philosophy in Transit series, writer for The Hunger food column at AnOthermag.com, and editor of The Gourmand.
Carol Sachs was born and raised in Brazil,
& Confused and literary editor for AnOther Magazine. She also contributes to Nowness and Time Out, and works with the Martha Gellhorn Trust on its Prize for Journalism.
Marco Scozzaro is an Italian photographer based in Brooklyn. His work has been exhibited at the New York Photo Festival, Galleria Civica, La Galerie Villa des Tourelle, the Grid International Photo Festival, Mala Stanica – The National Gallery of Macedonia, amongst others, and featured in publications including Wallpaper*, GQ, Vogue, Rolling Stone, and Vice.
Laura Bradley is the commissioning editor
Matthieu Lavanchy is a still life photog-
Andrew Stellitano studied graphic design
for AnOther Magazine. Prior to this she was online editor for i-D, and fashion features editor at SHOWstudio.
rapher based in Paris. His work has been exhibited at Salon Art Cologne, the Prague Biennale, and Plat(t)form at the Fotomuseum in Winterthur, among others. He works regularly for magazines including PIN-UP, The New York Times T Magazine, Le Monde, and Wallpaper*. In 2010 he won the Prix du Jury Photographie at the Festival d’Hyères, and the Prix Fédéral Suisse de Design.
at Central Saint Martins and works on design and art direction for photography, film, installations, and a diverse range of multidisciplinary projects. Andrew’s recent clients include Warner Bros., The Victoria and Albert Museum, Absolut Vodka, The Future Laboratory, and AnOther Magazine.
Sam Bompas is one half of Bompas & Parr, and the co-author of Tutti Frutti with Bompas & Parr and Friends. In the past he’s worked with jelly, built a boating lake on the roof of Selfridges, and intoxicated people through their lungs and eyeballs with a walk-in cloud of breathable cocktail.
Tim Burrows is an author and journalist who writes about popular culture, music, art, and place, often at the same time.
Valeria Costa-Kostritsky is a French journalist based in London. She writes about France for British publications, and about Britain for French mags. She contributes to GQ, the LRB blog, Les Inrockuptibles, and Glamour, among others. Valeria enjoys travelling to places to piece together her Peruvian-Italian-Russian origins. Dominic Davies’ images have appeared on numerous 4AD record label covers, for bands including The Prodigy and Bauhaus. Dominic photographed the Queen’s dresses for the Jubilee celebrations, as well as collections for Italian fashion house Aspesi. He collaborated with Heston Blumenthal to produce the images for The Big Fat Duck Cookbook.
Paolo Di Lucente is a freelance photographer from Rome. He currently lives and works in New York. Lars Hinnerskov Eriksen spent ten years in London before the attraction of new Nordic cuisine, knitwear, and a model social system lured him back to his native Denmark. He has written about food for the Guardian and Playboy, and his first book, Danish Dynamite: The Story of Football’s Greatest Cult Team, will be published by Bloomsbury in spring 2014.
Seth Fluker is a Toronto-based visual artist whose practice encompasses a wide array of photographic genres. Earth People, a book of photos he has taken over the last three years of people and landscapes, as well as still lifes and screengrabs, is published by Working Title.
Hannah Lack is deputy editor for Dazed
Benjamin McMahon was born in the North of England and lives in the South. Like a stereotypical Yorkshireman he is known to wear flat caps, and he also plays the tuba in a brass band.
Nous Vous are a small, close-knit collective
Gemma Tickle is a set designer living and working in London. Her playful eye and fascination with materials has brought her to collaborate on advertising, editorial, and eventbased projects for clients such as Hunger magazine, Wonderland, British Airways, and Nike.
Aaron Tilley is a still life photographer
made up of three practitioners: Jay Cover, William Edmonds, and Nicolas Burrows. They collaborate on graphic design work, illustration, exhibitions, and other self initiated projects.
whose graphic and conceptual style attracts editorial and commercial clients alike. In his work, familiar items are placed in unexpected contexts, resulting in bold, thoughtprovoking images. He grew up and studied in Norfolk and is now based in London.
Peta O’Brien is a food stylist, organic
Jordy van den Nieuwendijk studied
model maker, curator, and art collector living and working in London. Responding to challenging briefs with an absolutist approach is just part of her daily life.
illustration at the Grafisch Lyceum Rotterdam, and graphic design at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. He currently works on freelance, collaborative, and self-directed projects from his home studio in The Hague.
Hedai Offaim is an organic farmer and chef based in Israel. He raises Alpine goats, Medjoul dates, and heirloom vegetables in the desert, and he produces organic goat’s cheese, olive oil, and other farm products using traditional techniques. Hedai writes a weekly food column for the Haaretz newspaper, and brings thousands of people to Israel every year for culinary and cultural expeditions.
Sarah Parker is a set designer and maker based in East London. She has produced work for Christian Dior, Wallpaper*, Harvey Nichols, Mr Porter, the British Fashion Council, Nowness, Esquire, GQ, The Independent Magazine, The Guardian Weekend, and Bompas and Parr.
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Rob White has been photographing food and drink for over 15 years, during which time he has established a wide variety of design, advertising, and editorial clients. Rob’s approach is to shoot simple, uncluttered images, and he finds strange comfort in order and patterns. Originally trained as a chef, food has always played a major part in Rob’s life, and he can still be relied upon to rustle up a feast.
Neil Wissink is a London b ased artist and photographer. Originally from Canada, he studied at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art. Neil is the photographer for The Hunger food column at AnOthermag.com
Editor’s Note
The life of a gourmand is one of inherent tensions. On the one hand there is the comfort of tradition, of familiar recipes, eateries, and ingredients. On the other, the frisson brought on by the new or the re-imagined. The fourth issue of The Gourmand celebrates these tensions with a terpsichorean joy. We start in New York with the story of Milton Glaser’s Underground Gourmet, which brought to light a culinary culture that has long since disappeared: one of local, specialised restaurants where good food could be enjoyed for less than $3. Now, as developers raze the neighbourhoods, solid foundations have been replaced by four-wheeled food trucks bringing tasty regional dishes to the streets of Manhattan. The old and the new are combined in Peta O’Brien’s remarkable collection of brushes, syringes, and knives, the implements of choice for her work as a food stylist. In amongst this glistening assemblage is a long handled wooden spoon with a worn edge. To some it might look out of place in the forensic clarity of Rob White’s photographs, but it acts as a reminder of things past, treasured, irreplaceable. Tradition also lies at the heart of Sam Bompas’ ruminations on the art of toasting: as sub-mariners drink to a life in the deep, and Prussian military men drink from their pistols. It’s also central to Aaron Tilley and Gemma Tickle’s stunning homage to Italian architectural techniques, and to Marco Scozzaro’s photo series, Maggio: a celebration of his old home in Italy and his new home in New York. In Before Things Change, Seth Fluker’s dishwater seascapes capture moments in the ever-changing liquid landscapes he saw, decked out in Marigold G12Ts, deep in the kitchens of Soho. Of course, as is The Gourmand’s way, there are certain entertainments that defy categorisation. Dominic Davies and Andrew Stellitano’s remarkable photographic essay presents the world as experienced by a synaesthete. And the work of American artist John Baldessari, with his incongruous pairings and parlour games involving garlic bulbs, scallions, and turnips, is stimulating for both mind and palate. Oh, and whatever you do, don’t get Kyle Hugall started on bacon innovations. No, really. Don’t. But let us not delay. In closing these words of welcome, we refer you to the epitaph on the side of filmmaker Les Blank’s coffin, as mentioned in Hannah Lack’s affectionate tribute: “Long Live the Living,” it says. To our fellow gourmands, we offer this issue for the purposes of edification, and in the hope that we might all enjoy time with friends to celebrate the old, thrill to the new, and build traditions of our own. 5
the gourmand
Contents 8 – 15 Milton Glaser: The Underground Gourmet Patrick Baglee meets with the formidable designer who changed New York’s culinary landscape
16 – 17 Save Our Bacon Kyle Hugall takes a look at an American porcine trend that is spiralling out of control
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18– 23 Tradizione, Costruzione Set designer Gemma Tickle and photographer Aaron Tilley present their homage to classic Italian architectural styles
24 – 31 Peta O’Brien: Tools of Her Trade An intimate look at the many tools used by this leading food stylist and organic model maker
32– 35 Toasting Sam Bompas explores the rich and dramatic history of a very social custom – bottoms up!
36– 43 John Baldessari: Yours in Food Natasha Hoare investigates the conceptual art pioneer’s longstanding fascination with food
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44– 49 I Was a Teenage Little Chef Supervisor Laura Bradley reminisces about her time in charge at the iconic British motorway diner
50– 55 Sunday Specials Photographer Dominic Davies and art director Andrew Stellitano offer an enlightening look at synaesthesia
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56–65 Petrelle Valeria Costa-Kostritsky and photographer Matthieu Lavanchy visit a Parisian restaurant that is halfway between a secret and an institution
66–73 Driving Light Hedai Offaim follows the food truck that is cooking the story of Jerusalem during the city’s Season of Culture
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contents
74– 79 Levande Arkivet (The Living Archive) Lars Hinnerskov Eriksen speaks with Josefin Vargö, the woman behind Stockholm’s sourdough archive project
80– 81 As Kurdish as Fish and Chips 74– 79 80– 81
Tim Burrows investigates the complex roots of a very British tradition, and discovers some surprising facts
82– 89 Before Things Change Photographer Seth Fluker offers a psychedelic look at the impermanence of life, food, and dirty dishwater
90– 95 After the Ortolan
82– 89
90– 95
A controversial French culinary tradition is explored by photographers Baker & Evans, who present a visual feast in honour of a very small songbird
96– 103 Maggio Photographer Marco Scozzaro shares his photos of a life lived across cultures and continents
104– 109 Smak Polski
96– 103
104– 109
Ananda Pellerin and photographer Neil Wissink go right to the source for their investigation of London’s Eastern European food invasion
110– 113 Long Live the Living: Les Blank Hannah Lack bears tribute to the garlic-loving filmmaker and his eccentric oeuvre
114 The Sloe Jameson Fizz by Oisin Davis A truly Irish cocktail recipe from the potion master at Dublin’s Damson Diner
110– 113
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115 Sissel Tolaas Remembers: Lutefisk The world-leading olfactory expert waxes poetic about an especially philosophical and pungent dish from her childhood
116–119 Recipes
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116–119
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The Gourmand’s contributors and friends share recipes for their signature dishes and personal favourites
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Tradizione, Costruzione
Photography: Aaron Tilley Art Direction: Gemma Tickle 18
Colonna Dorica, Candele
Sipario, Nero di seppia
Tegole, Lasagne
Scale, Spaghetti
Pavimento parquet, Rigatoni
the gourmand
Words: Peta O’Brien Photography: Portrait, Carol Sachs • Objects, Rob White
Peta O’Brien: Tools of Her Trade
Peta O’Brien is a leading food stylist and organic model maker, originally from Melbourne, Australia. From a very early age, her grandmother instilled in her a love of cooking and a deep respect for technique – “I could turn a perfect ginger fluff at eight-years-old” she says. O’Brien first used precision tools in her job as an oral surgeon’s assistant, before spending several years cooking professionally. Moving to London in the 1980s, she discovered the world of food styling and organic model making, and has since worked on diverse commissions. Her work often incorporates microscopic levels of detail, such as creating a perfect chocolate reproduction of a Gainsborough painting. Other commissions have involved large-scale logistics, notably the award-winning Skoda ‘cake car’. As an avid art collector and curator, O’Brien brings a connoisseur’s eye to her craft. The Gourmand met with her at her East London home, where she showed us a selection of the many tools of her trade. 24
p e ta o’b r i e n : t o o l s o f h e r t r a d e
“Many of these are the tools that I work with every day. They live in their own instrument roll. Each morning my assistant opens up the roll on my wooden chopping board and I place them in the leather holster that I wear around my hips for easy access during the day. My kit box was stolen whilst I was unloading my car late one night after a shoot. As a result I lost all of my favourite tools and instruments. It was devastating. I found it virtually
impossible to work until I tracked down and replaced as many of the instruments as possible. I realised that you can replace some things, but they will often feel very different in the hand. I never got used to some of the new tools, whilst others have become firm favourites.” – Peta O’Brien • For Peta O’Brien’s cartoon fish skeleton recipe → p119
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1 These bottle brushes are handmade. I found them in a shop specialising in all sorts of brushes in Budapest.
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This brush has come to be known as the titch pot brush, so named by commercials food director Charlie Stebbings. I use it when I need to paint a very delicate surface. “Why don’t you just tickle that with the titch pot brush,” he would say.
This is the 1cm flat brush I use constantly when painting oil onto food, to freshen it up or make it look hot.
The handle of this brush can be filled with water. The water then flows through the bristle tip when the handle is lightly squeezed. I use it whilst watering vegetables on set. Artists generally use it with watercolours or inks.
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1 This syringe is used for either adding or subtracting liquids whilst on set. It also has strong suction, making it unlikely that the surface of the liquid will be disturbed, or drip onto the background.
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In combination with the short, chamfered needle in the middle of the 4th row, I use this syringe to apply a glycerine/water combination of tiny droplets to tomatoes.
I first saw these floral water tubes in use by my mother who was a florist. They are most often used for keeping orchids alive, but I use them for keeping herbs or carrot tops alive when constructing foliage landscapes.
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4 I use this pipette to apply sauces to dishes where it is required that the sauce be a certain shape. It has very good suction.
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1 I found my original bonsai snips in Edinburgh, very early on in my career, probably 1989. These are a replacement pair for the ones that were stolen with my kit box. I never got used to them and still grieve the loss of the originals.
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I found these tiny, precise surgical scissors at La Grande Bradderie, an annual flea market in Lille. There was an entire street stall devoted to surgical instruments. I was in seventh heaven.
I find these artery forceps very useful when I need to stitch or hold something extremely delicate. I learned to use them during my job assisting an oral surgeon in theatre.
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4 These are my favourite surgical scissors. I use them whenever I’m required to trim or cut food elements in a precise way. I bought them at the John Bell & Croydon pharmacy years ago when they used to stock a huge variety of surgical instruments.
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1 This wood-handled knife was given to me when I was working on a job in Oslo. It is a commemorative knife from the Winter Olympics held in Lillehammer in 1994. Its short, stout blade makes it a very efficient gutting knife.
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Originally I had six of these small palette knives. I now have only one left. I don’t know what I would do if this one disappeared, I use it every day.
This instrument is commonly known as the paddle because it reminds me of a miniature one that you would use to row a canoe or kayak. I use it frequently to smooth out and distribute viscous materials. It has become one of my favourites.
This is the knife I use the most regularly. It’s a Toucan brand paring knife from France, and I love it. It’s the perfect weight with a perfectly shaped blade. I also find the brass collar and rivets very pleasing to the eye, and they contribute to its overall brilliant design.
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THE GOURMAND ISSUE 0 3 2013 U K £12 .0 0