Food and photography: a possible harmony

The white 'All i pebre', by Begoña Rodrigo.Javier Corso

Food tastes better if you see it first, then smell it, and finally taste it.

In that order.

This general conclusion from several university studies confirms what has always been popularly said about eating with your eyes.

Now, it is not only about whetting your appetite through the sense of sight, but about going beyond the most immediate gastronomic experience to enrich it with new attractions.

At least that is the purpose of the unique pairing that has brought together chef Begoña Rodrigo with photographer Javier Corso who is named, precisely,

Comer con los ojos.

It is a seven-course menu, designed by the Valencian chef from the La Salita restaurant (with a Michelin star and three Repsol Suns), which are served along with 28 images about seven crafts in the city and its region, some in development. of extinction, made by the documentary filmmaker and regular contributor to

National Geographic

.

A joint project that is part of the launch campaign of the new Xiaomi 14 Ultra mobile, which incorporates a Leica lens and with which the photographer has carried out the work.

More information

The best vegetable chef in Europe gets into charcuterie in Valencia

Sometimes the relationship between photographs and dishes seems almost abstract or conceptual;

Others the link is directly figurative, continuing with the artistic, motivated simile.

For example, the chef's tasty but softened white interpretation of the traditional Valencian recipe for

All i pebre

is accompanied by images of Robert, a fisherman from Valencia's Albufera, one of the few left, who is dedicated to fishing for eels, the prized and very rare fish, in a trap on the lake.

The eel is the fundamental ingredient of the dish, whose name in Valencian, however, refers to garlic and paprika (it also has potatoes, oil and water).

One of Javier Corso's photographs, about eel fishing.

“Touch, touch, they are meant to be touched,” Corso comments to a diner in reference to the four photographs that are displayed on each table on their corresponding lecterns, while the dishes are tasted.

They are author images, especially cared for.

“They don't look like they were made with a cell phone, right?” adds the photographer, accompanied by the chef, who has always given special importance to aesthetics.

Rodrigo assures that when he makes a dish he immediately takes his cell phone and photographs it “from above to see how it looks.”

He even changed the lighting in his establishment because he realized that after a lot of work to achieve a certain color for his dishes, the light changed it in the room.

The cook is also fully aware that the dishes are usually photographed by customers, which enhances her attention.

She intends to incorporate the

Eating with Your Eyes

menu into the offerings of her restaurant by order.

A direct relationship is also established between Begoña Rodrigo's vegetable sausages, which refer to a meat product that is not, and the photographic series made in the workshop of a Fallero artist, with his

ninots

, which are dolls invented from reality.

Satire

is the name of this trompe l'oeil pairing that is offered before the parsnip nest, reminiscent of the wicker baskets and baskets that María Dolores interweaves that decorate many of the houses of the residents of Sot de Chera, the small municipality of the Valencian Serranía where the chef is from.

Rice with cod from Orza, by Begoña Rodríguez.

Spectacular and very colorful is the appearance of

La tiara of pickles and salted dishes,

decorated with flowers, one of the most recognized dishes at La Salita.

In this case it pairs with the series of photographs about the espolín, the characteristic fabric of the fallera costume that receives the name of the loom with which the floral patterns are made manually with silk.

These photographs, taken at Casa Garín, are especially striking, as are those taken in the traditional blacksmith's forge that pairs with the Dénia shrimp, and its translucent x-ray as an edible companion.

Orza's succulent rice with cod is served with images from Cuca's workshop, in which he makes a paper by hand that is a small work in itself.

The chiaroscuros of the images are repeated in the darkness of an underground cellar, where the homemade Nacho cheese rests, which is served in La Salita with figs in a fresh and succulent dessert that makes up La hermandad, the last dish on the menu Eat with

the eyes

.

This project also has collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV).

With the help of Purificación García, researcher at the UPV and co-founder of Food Design, and José Alba, a study will be developed based on what reactions the photographic pairing generates in diners and the relationship between haute cuisine and visual

storytelling

.

This same team recently published a study that points out that “the visual impact generates many expectations and influences how we perceive the flavor and texture of food.”

Photography by Javier Corso for 'Comer con los ojos', from Nacho's homemade cheese cellar.

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