Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can simply show us a pile of apples you’ve picked at the orchard or snap a picture of your decorative fall pumpkins and gourds.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

1. K @ Prudent and Practical (Crockpot Spicy Peanut Chicken)2. e- Mom (Easy Chocoate Pecan Pie)3. April@ The 21st Century Housewife4. Tara @ Feels like home (easy cherry pie)5. Hoosier Homemade( Veggie Twist)6. Kristen (cherry cheese danish)7. Family Balance Sheet (Pasta with Turkey Sausage, Arugula and Sun- Dried Tomatoes8. Andrea@ Hopeannfaith’s Hope Chest (Pretending it’s summer~ Summer Food)

9. Carla (Chocolate Syrup)10. Sara (cheesy vegetable soup)11. Newlyweds (Chocolate Pumpkin Oatmeal)12. Faith, Food and Family (Southwestern Egg Bake)13. Sarah@ Beautyinthemundane14. Sarah@ Beautyinthemundane( easy bruschetta)15. Butter Yum (Chocolate Baby Oblivions)16. Geri@ heartnsoulcooking (Christmas Rainbow Cookies)

17. Sonshine( Puppy Chow)18. Marcia@ Frugalhomekeeping( Kids’ Cookbook Goes Step- By- Step)19. Unfinished Mom (Chicken Mushroom Lasagna)20. Breastfeeding Moms Unite! Weird Food Combinations (Chocolate Chickpea Cupcakes)21. The Prudent Homemaker (Honeybaked Ham)22. Leila at Like Mother, Like Daughter: Hospitality with your kids’ friends!23. Jane Anne (Enjoy Life: Delicious Allergy Free Food)

Food on Fridays with Ann

It just happens that I am acquainted with the food stylist who created the Thanksgiving turkey for the November cover of Bon Appetit. She did everything except photograph the bird: after cooking it, she found the beautiful stainless steel pan to put it in and added decorative touches so that the photographer could capture a great look. I think you can see it at this link (the link takes you to a gift subscription offer for the magazine, but last time I looked, it showed the cover-bird).

Setting up for food photography takes among other things an artist’s eye, speed (food doesn’t look appetizing for long) and an ability to create an appealing arrangement.

My 8-year-old son is developing these food stylist skills.

Here is one of his recent dinner arrangements:

He ate every bite.

Giving kids the opportunity to be their own food stylists is a great way to engage them in dinner preparations.

Though she never used the term, Edith Schaeffer inspired readers to become food stylists while preparing and presenting everyday meals. In her book The Hidden Art of Homemaking, she wrote:

Meals should be a surprise, and should show imagination … It is not necessary to have an extravagant food budget in order to serve things with variety and tastefully cooked. It is not necessary to have expensive food on the plates before they can enter the dining room as things of beauty in colour and texture … This is where artistic talent and aesthetic expression and fulfillment come in. (Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking)

Schaeffer suggests thinking of the plate as a still life. She offers general considerations such as mixing up the texture, color, flavor, smell and shape of foods as well as specific ideas such as forming a mound of shredded carrots with chopped nuts and bits of pineapple and presenting it on top of a lettuce leaf.

Simple foods presented in creative ways.

We could all practice being food stylists by responding to Schaeffer’s call to creativity in daily life at every meal.

I should watch my son and learn.

It looks like all I need to get started is about 40 grapes.

A preview of The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer available here.

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