pile of red

Liz West

Food somehow seemed limited to feeding the body but not the soul. Flowers have no purpose beyond the latter, so in my mind they became associated with beauty, whereas food was associated mainly with more earthly pleasures.

Then I broke my foot and had to lie around the house for a few weeks. Luckily, I have friends who gave me books, and two of those books just happened to be about food. Also, I had recently received a new cookbook that featured large and lovely photos of food.

As I sat in my armchair with my foot elevated, I read about food constantly. I was steeped in the subject, and I was reading the words of people who pointed out that wonderful food is spiritually satisfying as well as nourishing. They extolled not only the taste of the food, but its color, texture, scent, and arrangement. Their approach was much like my approach to flowers. Maybe the two shouldn’t be characterized so differently in my mind.

These writers’ attitudes began to permeate my consciousness. Now when I limped into the kitchen to make lunch, I began to notice how truly beautiful my tomatoes were. They were plump, they were gloriously red, and they glowed in the sunlight.

At first, I merely tried to capture their beauty. I set them up in a well-lit spot and took a few shots. My gosh, they were as beautiful as flowers, and just as much fun to photograph.

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