What a treat it was to meet and photograph Simran Sethi and her lovely mum for the Wall Street Journal recently! Simran’s new book Bread, Wine & Chocolate : The Slow Loss of the Foods We Love came out in November 2015 and I pre-ordered it so I could have her sign it at our shoot. If you have an interest in food (and don’t we all?), you’ll enjoy her book. She spent a few years traveling around the world to understand where our food comes from and the difficulties the world is facing as we lose diversity to increase production. She talks a great deal about taste and the enjoyment we derive from food and even includes some helpful resources at the back of of the book to help define our tastes. I have been reading her book very slowly, and as I told Simran, I am literally savouring the information and thoughts in the book.
For the photo shoot we met at Simran’s family home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to photograph her in the kitchen. As soon as we walked in the house, we were greeted with the pungent and delicious smell of something yummy cooking. And then the warm welcome of Simran and her mum just put us at ease. It was fun to do the portraits and we also photographed the sweet potato dish and spices, but best of all we had to eat the food! I adore Indian food and all the fusion foods that come from that cuisine.
More recently I was able to attend Simran’s book signing at Scuppernong Books here in Greensboro. It included discussion and a chocolate tasting focusing on North Carolina chocolate makers : Escasu & French Broad Chocolates We learned to cup a small piece of chocolate in our hands and breathe in the aromatic smells before tasting the chocolate. It is incredible when you take the time to really smell and taste food how wonderful and complex the enjoyment can be.
