It looks fabulous, but doesn't it taste terrible?

Food stylists need to be very good cooks to do their jobs, apparently, even though what they do to simulate appetizing food in magazine photography is startling and sometimes disgusting. In an article by Vangie Baba-Reyes in the Philippine Daily Inquirer* noted American food stylist Delores Custer (recently in Manila for a day-long food-styling workshop) revealed some of the tricks food stylists use to highlight a product’s features and minimize its flaws,when preparing food for photography:

• Custer's styling kit includes measuring items (spoons, cups and digital timer); knives and shears (slicer, parer, corer and zester); cleaning and touch-up aids (Q-Tips, handi-wipes); food items (Kitchen Bouquet, corn syrup, gelatin and cornstarch); brushes and spatulas, and things like tweezers, syringes, needle and thread, and thin wire.
  
• Ice cream, one of the most difficult foods to photograph, is often made from powdered sugar, butter-flavored Crisco shortening and Karo (corn) syrup.
• Kitchen Bouquet (a browning additive for gravy) simulates “coffee without scum” or, diluted in water, iced tea and chardonnay wine.
• Adding Elmer’s glue makes whiter, thicker milk.
  
• A hot skewer was used to add grill marks to grilled vegetables.
  
• For pasta, like pesto, she substituted parsley for basil “for that greener, richer look.”
• A steam machine to make food look piping hot.
• Non-melting plastic ice cubes are used in cold drinks.
• Soap bubbles are added to a glass of milk for that freshly poured look.
  
• Meat is slathered with Vaseline or mineral oil for sheen.
  
• A tablet of Alka Seltzer keeps carbonated beverages fizzy for the camera.

*(this blog casts nothing if not a very wide net!)