Interview: Carl Warner brings food to life

 

 

 

 

Carl Warner is an artist who doesn't use paint to create his masterpieces, he uses food! 

 

I came across Mr. Warner's work for the first time this Christmas when I got his new book ''A World of Food''.   The book was intriguing to me.  He used everything from vegetables to candy and meat to bread to create landscapes that he photographed for the book.   In this book, each scene was built around a color.   White chocolate castles, pink candy house, yellow Swiss cheese pyramids and a chocolate brown train are a few of the astonishing food scapes in this book.

To learn more about how Mr. Warner creates these scenes I checked out his website at www.carlwarner.com.  The website is really cool. It has a lot of samples of his work, pictures and videos - definitely check it out.  The website gives a lot of information about how the pictures are created.  He takes a series of pictures then overlays them into his final photo.  The food can be tricky to work with so he has to work in stages.

 

It also said he was interested in children's nutrition and healthy eating which made me wonder. So, I emailed Mr. Warner in England. He was really nice and said it would be OK to interview him for my blog. Thanks Mr. Warner!  Now I have a few new foods to try :)

 

Interview with Carl Warner

 

JTC:  A World of Food:  out of all the different foods you used, which top three do you suggest kids should try - even if they only try them once.

 

CW:  1) Curly Kale is an ingredient I work with a lot. If you ever have crispy seaweed in a chinese restaurant it's usually this. One of my sons hates vegetables and anything green but I chop the kale up finely and fry it off in some light olive oil with finely chopped onions or shallots and bacon or lardons that are cooked until crispy and golden. You can finish this off with a little lemon juice and cracked black pepper or a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. He loves it!

2) Butternut squash / pumpkin. Cubed and roasted in the oven with garlic, cumin and olive oil, also great on the BBQ!

3) Red peppers, crisp sweet and juicy raw or roasted in the oven in olive oil. 

JTC: Were you a picky eater when you were a kid?

 

CW :A little bit, I had fads really but I also became bored with my mother's cooking because she cooked the same meal on each night of the week and she wasn't very adventurous or creative in the kitchen. This has a lot to do with confidence as well as enthusiasm, but also in the 1970's we didn't have the middle class food culture we have today with all the cook books, online recipes and TV shows we have today.

JTC: Which food have you found to be the most difficult to work with or which scene did you find particularly challenging to photograph?

 

CW: As far as ingredients go fresh herbs are the worst because they wilt so quickly especially coriander.

As far as scenes go it has to be the Fishscape as I didn't know if I could pull it off, and at one point in the shoot I was very doubtful as to whether it would work or not. Thankfully it did!

Crusty Cod

 I wasn't much of a big fish eater 'til I had crusted cod.  When my mom told me that we were having fish for dinner I thought I'd rather have a hotdog.  But then I tried the fish and I LOVED it!  The crunch of the panko crumbs went well with the smoothness of the cod.  A squeeze of lemon added a little splash of tang to the fish.  The chopped parsley combined with the panko crumbs gave the dish a burst of color.  It's not hard to make, even a kid can do it!

Crusty Cod

1 lb cod fillets
1 cup panko crumbs
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp chopped flat parsley
1 lemon
salt/pepper to taste

preheat oven to 375 degrees

Combine panko crumbs and parsley
Add melted butter and mix with a fork
Place fish in baking dish
sprinkle cod with a little salt and pepper
completely cover the fish in the panko crumb mixture
add a little dab of butter on top and a squeeze of the lemon into the baking pan
Bake in oven about 10 minutes

(Turn on the broiler for a minute or two if the bread crumbs aren't crunchy)

Grilled Chicken with Cucumber, Tomato and Feta Salad in Warm Pita

1 lb. chicken tenders
1 package pita bread
1 english cucumber
2 plum tomatoes
1/4 c sour cream or plain yogurt
1/4 c feta cheese
fresh dill

Sprinkle the chicken with a little salt and pepper on both sides
Place on grill and cook until nice and brown.
Make sure it's white on the inside - chicken needs to be cooked all the way through.

Chop up some fresh dill and mix with the sour cream or yogurt
(Use as much or as little dill as you like - I don't like too much)

Slice the cucumber in half (go the long way so you have two long halves)
Dice into medium size cubes

Slice open the tomatoes and remove the seeds
Dice into medium size cubes (same size as cucumber cubes)

Warm the pitas up on the grill (but not too much - you don't want it crunchy)

Spread some of the dill mixture over the pita bread.
Add a grilled chicken tender
Sprinkle with diced tomato, diced cucumber and feta (as much as you like)
You can stuff the pocket or just put the ingredients in the middle and wrap it up around the veggies/chicken - that's how I like it.

Serves 4 -6

Sneaky Zucchini

A cool way to sneak in a vegetable is by making zucchini bread. It's my nana's recipe and I made it for the first time last week. I wasn't sure how it was going to come out but it was so good I immediately wanted a second piece. I like it plain, but you might like it with butter or cream cheese.

Check out the Recipe section for the list of ingredients, procedure and baking tips. I used a cheese grater to grate the zucchini. I put it into a plastic bag overnight and then had everything ready when I made the bread after school. It came out great and my Dad even put a slice of the bread in my lunchbox for snack the next day.

Give the recipe a try - you may be surprised how much you like zucchini!