"What do I know of man's destiny? I could tell you more about radishes" (Samuel Beckett)

Dear radishes, 

To me, you are the strawberries of vegetables. Everything about you is powerful and beautiful, as every food should be powerful and beautiful.

Too many people believe that you are silly and have no dignity. You are sly, and I love all that has a bit of cunning. One bites into your magenta colored skin to reach your snow white inside, which can sometimes be quite sharp. You don’t go about peddling yourself. On the contrary, you

hang about with your countless siblings on this distinctive and unique shaggy bundle. That’s why I LOVE YOU !

Yours,

Mirna

Text: Mirna Funk 

Photo: Marcus Gaab Studio 

INSTAFOOD: CLASSYFYING THE FOOD POSTER

First of all: I plead guilty. The evidence is clear.

from the prank of ringing of a neighbor’s doorbell

to my first cigarette, isn’t it always this way?

Once one is assimilated into a larger group, selfreflection

vanishes at the cost of self-assertion.

It’s the same with Instagram. I feel at home with

all these images of food. Strictly speaking, the

images with #food posted on the social photo

site increases at a rate of millions. There aren’t

even that many pictures of feet! Under #food: the

McDonald’s maxi menu next to images of cake stands

piled with sugary sweet macaroons, or schnitzel and

fries and – Oh! Hello… a bare male torso. Someone

obviously knows how to entice women. It’s not for

nothing that the tag #foodporn is synonymous

with Instagram.

(Read the entire article after the jump)

It’s the same on Facebook. Since the world has

denounced the elaborate rights of use, status

messages like “Still recovering from last night,”

are just as fleeting as the memories of the previous

evenings debauchery. In this light an image of

one’s lunch comes across as non-committal. Face

detection is impossible! Only Twitter is lagging.

Packing food into 140 characters should be left to

the writers of cookbooks. All the same, Instagram

makes it clear: it’s no longer “my house, my car, my

boat.” Rather “my sandwich, my steak, my favorite

experimental restaurant.” Edo, ergo sum. I eat,

therefore I am. As to the intentions behind all this,

one can only speculate. After all, you can’t throw

every Instagram user into the same pot.

There are, for example, the images from “bestie” top

models Karlie Kloss and Toni Garrn. On Instagram

they post not only backstage pictures from photo

shoots, but also images of their food. If you’re

thinking of cotton balls soaked in orange juice

or veggie sticks, you’re wrong. On the image menus

of Miss Kloss and Miss Garrn are chocolate chip

cookies and pancakes with sausages. In this case the

food images on Instagram almost cause a cognitive

dissonance in the viewer. Those that see themselves

as elite restaurant testers are another kind –

no matter what image they post, it’s clear that

they’re at the place to be. Who needs Yelp when the

information is nicely filtered and freshly served via

the iPhone? Ambitious jetsetters are much the same.

Their images range from the fairly tradition photos

of the best pizza in Naples and tacos in Tijuana to

frog legs in Cambodia, Kokoreç in Turkey, and Kitfo

in Ethiopia – culinary discoveries that even Andrew

Zimmerman from “Bizarre Foods” might not get

behind, and certainly not average-Joe food posters.

Of course, one has to take into the account the

exorbitant competition that is taking place here

– that is, coming up with something better than

a boiled egg with caviar, a masterfully arranged

fruit plate, or, yawn, an avocado sandwich. #vegan

It’s not only top chefs like Jamie Oliver who are

posting prolific numbers of food pics, the number

of food semi-professionals on Instagram make it

a source of inspiration. Many run blogs parallel

to their Instagram imagery, where they promote

their ambitious edible creations ranging from

neon layered cake to bacon shakes. This turns the

followers on Instagram into a focus group. The

images they like appear later in detailed blog posts,

with the 18 filters of Instagram functioning as a

replacement for Photoshop. A circle to which – as I

already confessed – I truculently count myself. It’s

a little like in the past, when one would tag a public

toilet or electrical boxes on the side of the street

with a permanent marker. 

My hashtags: #veggieway.

Happy #foodday!

TEXT: Julia Stelzner

PHOTOGRAPHY: Christiane Bördner 

"FRUITS & VEGETABLES" by Heidi Voet

Heidi Voet was born in Belgium and studied Sculpture in the Royal Academy of Fine Art in Ghent and Installation in The
Higher St. Lukas Institute in Brussels. For the last six years she has lived and worked between Shangai and Brussels.

For her "Food & Vegetables" series where she placed fresh vegetabels next to cut outs from Chinese erotic magazines. Controversal and a lot of fun at the same time. 

Find out more about Heidis work and see the entire photo series after the jump. 

What is the concept behind the “Fruit & Vegetables” series?

What was first - the pictures of the women or the idea of the fruits? In 2008 I sculpted a series of cinderblock vases and used Chineseerotic magazines to fold origami flowers. The nudity of the womenthat was exposed in the magazines was, by folding the pages, again obscured. It resulted in objects with a domestic character; vases with flowers that raised questions about the position of woman, culturalhistories, and the construction of images. The leftovers cuts from the magazines were lying around in my studio and then used for “Fruit & Vegetables.” By placing the fresh vegetables next to the girls their youthfulness becomes accentuated. The vegetables that complete the contours of the bodies, only have a slightly shorter lifespan. Of course there is also the relation between the depicted body and the consumption of vegetables and fruit, both delicious, both temporary. Similar to the Japanese tradition of the Ukiyo-e, the woodblock prints where the floating world is depicted. In “Fruit & Vegetables” both a reference to the temporality of pleasure and decay is portrayed.

Do you have a special relation to food/nutrition?
I obviously like playing with food and love entertaining the idea that eating is, in essence, a “sculptural” act. You take the food, the material, and bite it, chew it, and change its form. Eating as a way to react and act within ones environment. You take a foreign object, an apple for example, and then place it in your body by eating it. From the moment you swallow it, you refer to the apple as “me.” I love entertaining these ideas. That’s also how the photo series “Granny
Smith” with the green apple came along. Eating, playing, sculpting. The main idea explored in that series is the vanitas motive.

Where did you find the photographs used in “Fruit & Vegetables”?
In 2006 I moved to Shanghai and was very sensitive to my new environment where I was confronted daily with scenes that questioned my convictions and habits. To explore the city I would go for walks and I found erotic magazines hidden in the back of a newspaper kiosk on Fuxing Road. Seeing pictures of naked flesh and pubic hair was quiet exceptional in a society where nudity is censored and the press is highly controlled. The magazines were sold a material for artists to study the human body or as “Art
Photography,” but functioned as erotica. It captures a very specific moment in Chinese contemporary development.
Towards the end of 2007 I started working with these magazines for my series of origami flowers.

Do you often work with the image of the female body?
Every woman and man today is still obliged to other women in less fortunate situations to be a feminist. It is interesting to think about the strengths of woman and keeping seduction and play in this picture. I am a woman and look in the mirror. I use images of other woman to be able to consider and describe my relation to the world with some distance, but with intimate familiarity at the same time. Asian woman appear in my work, as they represent the shift in global power in contemporary and future societies.

What are you working on at the moment?
I just finished the series “Shoot & Sprout,” a series of black and white photos that resemble ethnographical images of primitive sculptures and totems. Upon closer look one sees they are small sculptures made of potatoes on toothpicks.
The skin of the potatoes is shriveled and dry, but show signs of new life in their shoots. I was thinking about our current position in a historical context. How our ancestors continue to influence today and how we are trying to be civilized men.
I am also preparing “Stars &Constellations,” a piece that
will be shown in Brussels next month.

ARTWORK: Heidi Voet 

TEXT&INTERVIEW: Zsuzsanna Toth 

NEVER MAKE EYE CONTACT WHILE EATING A BANANA!

For THE DIET ISSUE our stylist Kathi Kauder transformed the shape of banana stickers to fashionable accessories. Additionally, Gintare Parulyte told her story of a very unique kind of banana shock.

Read the entire story and find the beauty photo series after the jump.

Generally speaking, the main purpose of consuming food consists of overcoming

the uncomfortable and distracting sensation of hunger, calming hormonal cravings

for chocolate, and curing hangovers with a serious intake of junk. Yet one shouldn’t

forget the possibility of some types of food used as pleasure enhancers in the sex

department. During my first appointment at my gynecologist, at the innocent age of

13, she urged me to beware the dangers of bananas.

It turned out that a girl my age had read an article in a sex education column that

mentioned a series of foods one could use to obtain orgasms including, of course,

the multiple uses of bananas. Used to consuming bananas in their peeled from, the

girl peeled her purchased green banana, hoping that it being unripe would prevent

it from breaking, and began her mission under her warm and naive teenage bed

sheets. The entry of this exotic fruit into her innocent yet curious vagina was smooth

and felt good. 

Yet once she attempted to give it a series of a pleasure-inducing

movements, she was forced to notice that the movement inside her greedy vagina

didn’t correspond with the exterior movement she made on the trunk. Yes, the

banana broke. She ran to the bathroom, lay on the cold tiles in front of the vertical

bathroom mirror and tried to spread her skinny legs as much as she could. Spreading

her legs was not something she had trained up to then. She inserted her fingers

into her genitals and tried to empty the tunnel. To her surprise and relief, she soon

felt the mission accomplished. However, the following days revealed a constantly

stronger odour of riper and riper banana coming from down under. One day the aroma

was so ripe, making her shame and panic so great, that she audaciously called

her gynecologist, begging to save her without judgment. After thanking the doctor

for elegantly cleaning her mess, she asked her to prevent more girls from possible

banana shocks by spreading her story as anonymously as possible, which she did,

amongst others, to the young me. Thank you, dear banana girl, for sharing your story,

although indirectly. I am sure you saved many vaginas from ripe disasters.

TEXT by Gintare Parulyte PHOTOS : Sabrina TheissenFASHION AND ARTWORK: Kathi KauderHAIR & MAKE-UP: Stelli /Tom Ford CosmeticsMODEL: Clara @ elite model management LondonPHOTO ASSISTANT: Fredrik AltinellFASHION ASSISTANT: Julia Heifer

“Never cry over spilt milk, because it may have been poisoned.” W. C. Fields

There’s almost no one in the world who doesn’t know it. That liquid, creamy joy that’s accompanied us since birth - whether with our morning granola, as the essence of a foamy latte, or a pure delicious side to freshly baked cookies. Cleopatra poured it in her bathwater thinking it would keep her skin eternally youthful. “Milk is full of calcium, it’ll make you big and strong,” or so we’ve heard since before we could even give voice to its name. Known the world over and accepted for centuries as one of the foundations of our food pyramid, today milk is more controversial than ever. A peek in the office refrigerator is enough to witness it for yourself - fighting for the pole position are rice, soy, skim, almond, and lactose-free alongside the universally known whole milk. One discovers the exact debate surrounding milk rather quickly - all of these varieties have their own benefits and disadvantages.

See our little milk overview & additional photography by the amazing photo studio severafrahm after the jump. 

 Rice Milk

Rice milk is a type of grain milk made from rice. It is commonly unsweetened; the sweet taste originates from a natural enzymatic
process, in which the carbohydrates are split into sugars.

Benefits

Rice milk is the most hypoallergenic of all milk products. Rice milk contains a generous supply of balanced nutrients.

Rice milk has the least amount of fat in comparison other types of milks. There is only one gram of unsaturated fat per cup. Rice milk is a good source of B vitamins, which are essential to metabolism.

Drawbacks

Rice milk is highly starchy. One cup of rice milk contains 33 grams of carbohydrates, three to four times the amount in cowor soy milk. For persons with diabetes rice milk can cause a sugar overload. Rice milk has little protein in comparison to cowor soy milk. Many find it to be less satisfying in taste and ineffective for appetite control. It contains almost no calcium, aside from brands that contain artificially added calcium.

Almond Milk

Almond milk is made from ground almonds. It does not contain any animal products, making it suitable for vegans and vegetarians.
Vanilla and chocolate flavors are often added, as well as sweeteners.

Benefits

Almond milk is a good source of the antioxidant vitamin E, which can prevent cancer and has been shown to help slow the signs of aging. Almond milk contains no cholesterol and no saturated fats, so it won’t harm your cardiovascular system. Compared to cow or soy milk, almond milk has the highest concentrations of vitamins and minerals. All of the nutrients, which are added to other milk varieties, occur naturally in almond milk. Almond milk is very low in calories and contains only about three grams of healthy fat per serving.

Drawbacks

Feeding almond milk to infants may cause tree nut allergies to develop. Processed almond milk may also contain unwanted additives and sweeteners. It is very dangerous for those who have even a light tree nut allergy.

Long-Life/Ultra High Temperature Milk

While fresh (pasteurized) milk is heated to 74°C for 15 seconds, long-life milk is super heated to 140°C for two seconds
and then packaged in a completely sterile environment.

Benefits

Long-life milk can be stored for months. It is easier to digest than fresh milk. In long-life milk pathogenic microorganisms are already destroyed. UHT milk is cheaper.

Drawbacks

Due to the heating process important vitamins are lost. The taste is weak in comparison to fresh milk. The loss of lactic bacteria makes it hard to notice when the milk is spoiled.

 Lactose-Free Milk

People who lack the enzyme lactase cannot digest lactose, the milk sugar. Based on human evolution almost 75 percent of the
world’s population is lactose intolerant. In lactose-free dairy products the milk sugar is already split into the two primary sugars,
dextrose and galactose, mostly by adding the enzyme lactase.

Benefits
Because of the sweetness of lactose-free milk extra sugar isn’t necessary, for example in coffee.
Drawbacks
Lactose-free products may contain unwanted additives, preservatives, and acids.

PHOTOS: severafrahm

RETOUCHING: Mladena Celik

TEXT: Zsuzsanna Toth 

SO LONG AS YOU HAVE FOOD IN YOUR MOUTH, YOU SOLVED ALL QUESTIONS FOR THE TIME BEING. (Franz Kafka)

We all know it, no one shares it:

 The necessity of letting ourselves be taken by our cravings sometimes. 

Photographer and I LOVE YOU MAGAZINES good friend Adrian Crispin and stylist Ann-Kathrin Obermeyer provided this wonderful photo series for THE DIET ISSUE. The talented duo captured the sweet moments of weakness, accompanied by all the complaining phrases we should swallow aswell. 

See our cover story after the jump. 

 "Once on the lips forever on the hips."

 "Really ? You ate a whole bar of chocolate yesterday?"

"Im gonna have to walk this off later."

“Well, it’s midnight. Technically your body doesn’t know whether it’s today or tomorrow."

"Hey, I think I'll skip the dinner if we're having drinks later."

PHOTOS: ADRIAN CRISPIN

FASHION: ANN-KATHRIN OBERMEYER

HAIR: KATSUKO KITAOKA @ SYBILLE KLEBER

MAKE-UP: MICHELLE RAINER FOR ELLIS FAAS COSMETICS 

MODEL: JORDIN GRAYE @ MARILYN AGENCY PARIS 

FASHION ASSISTANT: CHARLÖTTE CARGNELLO  

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE BdL

THE DARWIN DIET BY ELLE MULIARCHYK

Photographer Elle Muliarchyk captured a fashionable transformation of what is called "The Darwin Diet" based on the fact that Charles Darwin used to eat every living animal crossing his way. 

This shooting took place at the Sauce Restaurant in New York City. Read what the Restaurant's chef has to say about food photography and the difference between taste and reality after the jump. 

My family traveled around the world and I grew up on the Darwin Diet, which involves eating and tasting every living creature in nature. (Apparently Charles Darwin was so keen on tasting the species he discovered that while he sailed back

to England he ate 48 rare tortoises that were meant to be “donated to science.” He also liked armadillo and puma. While he was a student at Cambrige University he was an enthusiastic member of the Gourmet Club formed by a small group of friends. Know as the “Glutton Club,” they met once a week to sample meals not found on menus, including hawk, bitten, and an “indescribable” old brown owl. Not too far behind Darwin, I ate brains of just-killed monkeys and pizzettes topped with scorpions in Vietnam. In Indonesia I tried birds’ nest soup, which is made of the bird’s saliva, sticks and pieces of dirt. We hunted wild boar in Belarus and ate its tongue, heart, and made blood sausages using the intestines. I went to Robinson Crusoe camp in the Baltics where I learned how to tenderize my leather shoes and belt, cut them into paper-thin slices, and eat them for survival. I loved learning about the these crazy diets and the cultures they come from. But at 16 years old “Diet” acquired a different meaning to me. I came to the U.S. and became a model. I ate celery sticks, almost exclusively, for the next eight years while discovering Atkins, Okinawa, Raw, Glycemic Index, Blood Type, and Microbiotic diets. For the first time in my life I saw people treating diet as a fashion trend and status symbol.

Elle

"All food photography is a lie, so it helps to start shooting with some basic truths. Chefs create three dimensional art for all five senses. A photo speaks only with two dimensions, leaving the rest up to the viewer's imagination. Many don't realize that half of taste is expectation based on what they see. Most cannot name a single flavor without their vision, yet they have no idea how their food visually starts out.

When we shot this series, we began with the Sauce concept of honoring whole animals and practicing total utilization. We then thought of how to represent it and bring it into the collective visual memory of every eating experience.

Our food usually comes to us in unrecognizable parts—parts that we cannot usually trace. The whole, on the other hand, tells us everything we need to know. It visually and emotionally connects us with our prey. Some parts are recognizable only when seen in their full context. The world often lies to us through partial presentation that, in reality, can only be understood as a whole.

I feel this shoot is a very important metaphor for what should always be seen, prepared, and evaluated as a whole: our food."

Chef Frank Prisinzano at Sauce Restaurant NYC. 

Photos: Elle Muliarchyk (blog, films)  

Fashion: Sarah Cobb

Make-Up: Munemi Imai @ The Magnet Agency
DP: Rod Lamborn
Model: Ataui Deng @ Trump
Manicure: mary sol inzerillo @ cloutier remix
Chef: Frank Prisinzano @ Sauce Restaurant
Octopus by Stephen “octoman” Fried @ Gullo specialty foods