Behind The Scenes

My poor abandoned black blog! In my mountain of work, it has been pushed to the backburner and has patiently remained there for the past three weeks. One of the Everests I'm climbing is The Weekend Chef cookbook that's due out in October. Titled For The Love Of Food, it's aimed at the average Joe and Jane who love the idea of entertaining and playing chef but mistakenly believe they aren't up to mark. A total of 15 meals - each meal with a minimum of 3 dishes - will be featured in the book and 5 chefs are involved its creation. We've shot a grand total of 7 meals so far. It's been hard, hard work but such delicious fun!! And so here's a behind-the-scenes peek into what goes on in putting a cookbook together.

Early this year, Steven (TWC publisher) decided that The Weekend Chef needed a massive shot of energy. And so he made a bold proclamation.

“It’s time for a cookbook.”

Yan Sean, Jon and I raised our eyebrows, smiled and nodded politely. Then we moved on to the next agenda, amused at the far-fetched idea. A cookbook, indeed!

A month passed. At the next meeting, Steven tried again, “Guys, I really think it’s time we took The Weekend Chef to the next level. Let’s do the cookbook!”

“Sure, sure!” we chorused, the same way a guy assures a girl he never plans to date again that he will call her. Another month passed. Sensing he’d have to wield a rolling pin before the cookbook ever got off ground, Steven sat us down again and outlined his plan. This time his passion caught our attention and by the end of his little speech, the idea actually seemed plausible. But just to be sure, I decided to play the role of Negative Nelly.

“Who would want to support it?” I challenged.

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “But there’s no harm trying.”

That was enough for us. And so we set out to put a face to this vision. We burned the phone lines, faxed countless of letters, met numerous potential partners and spread the word across cyberspace. At first the response was discouraging. The initial companies we approached liked the idea but were ‘very sorry we can’t support you for various reasons’. Most of the chefs who wrote in submitted sample recipes that included fried cabbage with anchovies and fruit salad with yoghurt.

Gulping down our disappointment, we ploughed on. Then, something strange happened. The more we spoke about the cookbook, the more passionate we grew and suddenly doors began opening. Slowly, my unanswered questions found their answers.

We needed four chefs. Non-professionals who cooked beautifully, entertained frequently and who were available on both weekdays and weekends. In trooped Candice Foong, Tricia Especkerman, Rekha Sekhar and Alizakri Alias.

Then we needed partners, whose products complemented The Weekend Chef in terms of usability and style. Up stepped IKEA, La Bodega Deli and Nestle.

Next, we needed photographers who snapped for passion rather than money, who were unafraid and willing to go the extra mile. Enter Kevin Han and Yan Sean.

Finally, we needed a food stylist who understood our style, who would be easy to work with and who had an eye for style. Candice accepted the challenge.

Armed with this ensemble, we marched forth to create a cookbook that would be the first of its kind in Malaysia, and possibly in the world. Like with every other project, we had expectations of this one too – hard work, long hours, coordinating conflicting schedules, as well as endless research and planning. What we didn’t expect was to have more fun than we imagined!

One of the first few shoots was conducted at Tricia’s apartment. She had put together two menus, which Candice dubbed Vegetable Fiesta and Rustic Italian. When we arrived at 10am, the mushroom soup was bubbling merrily on the stove, the cherry cheesecake and papaya pie were sitting pretty in the fridge and a gorgeous array of fresh vegetables lay on the kitchen counter.

After the compulsory shot of caffeine, we got down to business. Yan Sean and her team set up the lighting, Candice began peeling vegetables and I assumed my spot by the kitchen sink. Washing up can be very therapeutic!

When the first dish was carried to the makeshift studio, the real work began. First the lighting had to be perfect – not too clinical and not too warm. Then the food had to be styled in a way that would make even a kitchen virgin grab an apron and oven mitt. This could be anything from shooting the dish in its entirety and zooming in on any tantalizing bits to slicing, breaking, scooping and piercing it. Each serving of food was placed in a variety of tableware from bowls and plates and to saucers and pans. Different textures were used, from wooden and ceramic to plastic and glass. It was shot with and without cutlery, given a messy and clean look, as well as raw and cooked. And that was just one dish. We shot a total of six dishes that day. By the time we wrapped up at 4pm, we were dead on our feet. But as we sank down to tuck into the amazing food, all of us had a satisfied twinkle in our eyes. Well, all except Tricia, who was craving a hot bath and deep sleep.

The cookbook photo shoot was nothing like the meal story shoots we’ve done for the website. This shoot demanded a more intense, detailed and creative approach which each of us strived to achieve. But despite the added responsibility, The Weekend Chef still worked its magic. It brought strangers together over food once again.

Throughout the six-hour shoot, there was a steady flow of laughter and banter. For all of us, it was our first attempt at a food project of this magnitude, but instead of working against us, our amateur status strengthened the camaraderie as we encouraged, supported, inspired and helped each other produce the best work possible. It was a wonderful feeling to look at each other at the end of the day and say, “That was fun!”

The Weekend Chef’s Rules Of Food Photography

• Always bring more props than you need. Creativity knows no bounds at a photoshoot.
• Never interrupt the chef while s/he’s cooking. We did and were punished with ten ruined gnocchi balls.
• Pleas like ‘Wait, wait, WAIT!’ have no place at a food shoot. Once the food has melted, cooled or burnt, there’s no turning back.
• If your hands buckle under pressure, do not volunteer to carry out any instructions that involve the words ‘just a drop’, ‘very carefully’, ‘very fine’ and ‘slowly’.
• Not everything is possible with Adobe Photoshop. Yet.
• If the chef is lifting a delicate piece of food and it wobbles dangerously, do not shout. Do not even whimper.
• Do have lots of paper towels ready. Accidents happen.
• Do not try to be perfect. Like real people, real food has its beloved flaws.
• Do not be afraid to experiment. You’ll know when you’ve gone overboard - the photographer will refuse to shoot.
• Do argue. The best ideas are born from differences in opinion.
• Do not feel obligated to carry on an endless conversation with the chef. S/he needs to concentrate and your chatter will be just white noise.


*Sorry can't provide pictures. I have no idea how to reduce the massive size and my creative producer is on leave!