I love the way this little blog allows me
to meet lovely, interesting and passionate people from the food industry. One such person I met a few months ago is Johan Van Der Merwe, a chef and food
stylist originally from South Africa.
Johan asked me if I was
interested in being part of the Bite Project: a collaboration with photographer
Eugene Langan which consisted of portraits of people from the Irish food
scene eating their favourite food or a food related to their role or profession. The idea was to combine food photography and portraits around the
theme of the renaissance in Irish food.
I was honoured Johan thought of me and
naturally accepted, it sounded all very exciting. On a rainy day (not good for my hair) I headed to
Eugene’s studio in Smithfield. Make up artist Brian Ward (who can speak French
beautifully) covered my imperfections with his fabulous Dior make up and Johan
had macarons, my favourite sweet treats, for me to bite during the photo shoot. It was lots of fun and very difficult for
me not to devour the macarons straight away but I resisted bien sûr!
I didn’t see the final picture until
recently at Taste of Dublin 2014 in Iveagh Gardens where the Bite Project photo
exhibition took place.
I was delighted to finally
see my portrait but also the faces of the other people who were pictured. The pictures were fabulous and everyone looked amazing, it was great to recognise some of the faces I
follow on social media or I’ve met in real life.
I didn’t recognise everyone but some of the
people included John and Sally from Forest Avenue, food writer Catherine
Cleary, butcher Pat Whelan, Easy Food Magazine editor Dee Laffan and many other
foodies.
Merci Johan, Eugene and Brian for this fun
experience and well done!
