Food is big business right now, from esoteric street food diners to upscale Michelin restaurants, backed up by a wealth of imagery online, in magazines, in cook books and even in galleries.
A recurring theme in art history, it’s also a favourite with advertisers, and a key insight into cultural mores. Food, like photography, can be high art and pop culture, aesthetically driven and plainly utilitarian.
This issue, we showcase an extended collection of Martin Parr’s famed food photography.
Described as “a chronicler of our age”, and known for his character-filled, satirical approach to documenting modern society, Parr believes food has a great social history: “When I started, it wasn’t really being explored. Now we all photograph what we eat, all the time.”
Parr’s inimitable relationship with food is the subject of his recently published book Real Food, a compendium of his greatest nosh shots taken everywhere from Britain to Sri Lanka, including everything from buttered bread to rotting fruit.
The magazine also includes David Brandon Geeting’s off-kilter images of narcissistic toast-making and an undercover assignment to the corner shop with Bobby Doherty. Plus, Paloma Rincón’s heatwave tableaux, a culinary reframing of migration by Tanya Houghton and Carl Kleiner’s Swedish loaf story.
Come and get it while it’s hot.
Now available from the BJP Shop.