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Should You Study Food Photography?
Are food photography workshops really worth the time, effort and investment? In this blog post I share my honest opinion about who should consider them and who should steer well clear!
Hi everyone. Hope you're all well :)
I've got LOTS in store for you this week, which is why I thought it would be helpful if I break this week's blog post down for you, so you can skip to the bits you're actually interested in, like the recipe for my delicious raw vegan Turmeric Chia Pudding ;). Cuz - just so you know - this is a looooong one and I don't want you getting bored ;).
Today it's all about Xochi Balfour's new The Naturalista cookbook, but if you just want the yummy raw vegan Acai Smoothie Bowl recipe, please don't be shy and make your way to the end of this blog post where you'll find it.
I posted the following statement under this image of Xochi Balfour's new healthy lifestyle book 'The Naturalista' on instagram the other day:
'FACT I get lots of cookbooks sent to me. FACT I buy lots of cookbooks,. FACT I'd never recommend something I don't wholehearted believe in.
So if I say that the healthy living book 'The Naturalista' by @xochibalfour is INSANELY AWESOME you better believe it's true. I hope this treasure gets the attention it so deserves when it comes out at the end of April. @xochibalfour you should be darn proud of this looker.'
And, though it's been a few weeks now since I first received the book, I still feel mega excited about it and super duper lucky to have been given a copy. Yup, it's THAT good. So, what about it is so special, you might wonder? Well, ...
1. The voice behind the book - Xochi is engaging, genuine, so, so sweet and I read the story of her journey to health with great interest. It's one that so many of us can relate to. (I'm not telling you more. You just gotta buy the book ;)). Plus, I've had the pleasure of meeting Xochi in person and I can tell you, she's not a brand. She's the real deal :).
2. The stunnig, healthy and most importantly achieveable recipes - I have literally bookmarked every other page - banana almond pancakes, kale and avocado rice with pickled carrots, smoky beet hummus etc.. I mean there are soooo many recipes to get excited about and most of them require ingredients that are easy to come by. However, please be warned - there are a few non-vegetarian recipes in this book. It doesn't bother me as you can count them on 1 hand, but I'm aware that for some of you this may be a deal breaker, which is why I'm pointing it out.
PISTACHIO MILK GREEN SMOOTHIE FOR HEAL'S AND SOURCING FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY PROPS (V+, R, ChF, P, GrF, GF)
Hi everyone! If you're here to get the recipe for the vegan pistachio milk green smoothie which I created exclusively for Heal's then please head over to their blog where you'll find some more images of the recipe creation process as well. The smoothie recipe was put together to show off one of the gorgeous Mervyn Gers Bowls which they sell at their flagship store on Tottenham Court Road in Central London. As those of you who follow along on instagram know, I have been a massive fan of anything Mervyn Gers makes and so this collaboration felt like a match made in heaven.
I often get asked about where and how I source my food photography props so, as I'm not sharing a recipe on the blog today, I thought I'd take a little time out to talk you through where I get my food photography props from and how I choose them instead. I hope this will be of some help to you.
When first starting out....
In a rush? Need the delicious vegan Hummus Mesabacha recipe now? Then scroll down!
There are hundreds of thousands of food blogs out there. In fact, there's one source on the net which claims that there are over 2million food blogs currently in existence. CRAZY, right!?! Yet, somehow I feel I've been lucky enough to find the right food blogs to get stuck into and get excited about. They aren't always the most well known (in fact I love 'discovering' blogs with smaller followings ;)), but the food blogs I read all have two key things in common:
1. They are about good, home-made, delicious, flavoursome food and
2. They are written by kind, thougtful bloggers whose voices I want to 'listen' to.
COLOMBIAN BEAN STEW (ChF, GF, GF, NF, V+)
At the start of 2016 I had made it one of my goals to post more recipes of the actual foods I eat on a day to day basis here on the blog. This meant more savoury dishes with whole grains and legumes as the star attraction. No sooner had I put that statement out there, did life firmly grab hold of it and make it become a reality. Or better, NETFLIGHTS did. They contacted me, asking me to prepare a dish that represented my heritage and this Colombian black bean stew - which I veganised ;) - instantly came to mind as THE recipe I needed to make for them.
Today it's all about collaborating with the brilliant forces behind Twigg Studios and Salvia + Limone, but if you just want the recipe for this beautiful vegan Matcha Pistachio Tres Leches Cake, please don't be shy and make your way to the end of this blog post where you'll find it.
I am never sure how I come across on social media. If the person you envisage me to be, is anything like the person I really am. If you hear my voice in your mind the way it actually sounds (deep-ish, subtle American accent, that's gone a bit British – think Madonna in her Guy Richie days) or if you're totally off the mark ;). So in case it's not blatantly obvious – and just for your info - I am a social creature. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE my own company and have no problems being alone, but I thrive mostly in social situations. Hence going from a busy office full of chatty, like-minded social workers to a quiet studio (AKA the guest bedroom) where I work in solitude has been an interesting change. I am extremely happy I followed my heart and moved into blogging/food photography/recipe development (you can read more about that change here), but that's not to say being on my own during the day hasn't required some getting used to.
Consequently, I relish any given opportunity to replace my hours of solitude with moments of chatter and laughter surrounded by talented, creative and lovely women. Women who are eager and open to share their special gift and unique talent with me (I feel so lucky!). Women whose generosity made today's blog post possible.
In a rush? Need the scrummy Vegan Sourdough Spelt Waffles recipe now? Then scroll down!
A few days ago my son turns 6. Can you believe it, 6! I know it sounds so cliché, but time truly does fly when you're having fun. And when you have children you can actually see the physical evidence of life's continual forward flow, which is quite grounding as well as - for me on this occasion - really upsetting. (I so wish my blog platform did emojis cuz I'd insert that crying face with buckets of tears streaming out of its eyes right here).
It's not that I miss the baby stage, I don't at all and every day, every week and every year that passes by I enjoy motherhood more and more. But it's that realisation that everything is just temporary and that I can't hold on to the here and now forever, not even for my little boy. And that recognition left me feeling a tiny bit lost the other day. I don't know, but I just felt emotional.
Today it's all about cookbooks, but if you just want the fun and delicious Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Doughnuts recipe please don't be shy and make your way to the end of this blog post where you'll find it.
Before I started writing my blog, I read blogs. Loads of them. All the time. And what I noticed as I did so, was that many of the food bloggers I followed got cookbooks send to them. For free!!!! Sometimes even before they were released in the shops!!!! I mean if getting free cookbooks isn't the best thing EVER about food blogging, I don't know what is. And (confession time!) though the hope of receiving free cookbooks wasn't the main reason I started The Little Plantation ;), it sure did play a teeny tiny role (*blush*).
So when insanely talented food photographer, stylist and blogger Aimee, from Twigg Studios, asked me if I wanted a copy of her brand new cookbook, Love Aimee x, to review on the blog, I don't think I actually even let her finished her sentence before shouting a loud, resounding YES!!! In fact when Aimee asked me, I may or may not have nearly choked on the toast I was munching on as we sat in a quaint little cafe in the heart of East London's Spitalfields. And, in case you're wondering, yes, she is just as sweet in real life as she comes across on her blog ;).
Read MoreLots to tell you today, so if you just want my yummy Vegan Bento Bowl recipe, you can find it towards the end of this blog post.
I am feeling stressed :(. Totally stressed. It's because I have a nutrition exam that I need to do some SERIOUS studying for. And I am sad to report that I am sooo behind with my revision, which in turn is stressing me out even more (insert crying face).
But I'm also stressed because I feel really busy with all the other little projects in my life including the blog. Not to say I don't LOVE this space because I do, I really, really do. But as the bloggers amongst you know, writing a blog comes with TONS of commitments such as visiting other blogs (which I LOVE to do btw), posting images on facebook, instagram, twitter, pinterest and of course on countless recipe sharing sites too. I enjoy all these social media platforms and the opportunities they provide to connect with like-minded foodies and be inspired, but - and of course there is always a but - they are all rather time consuming activities and time is something I just don't have at the moment :(.
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