Cooking With: Still Here, Still Life 1
The idea behind this “Cooking With” series is to try and emulate the involvement of wonderful illustrators at the Plate Talks events by cooking with them virtually while they draw. With the current situation, social interaction is in need now more than ever and it’s interesting to explore the idea of sharing food virtually. It’s wonderful to explore how a video call could facilitate us cooking and talking together.
The second “Cooking With” series was in collaboration with Still Here, Still Life. Every week Zena and Tess invite people from all over the world to draw from a still life photograph, resulting in an amazing collection of creations. On Sunday 24th May I did a takeover on their Instagram with a “Still LIVE” IGTV cooking and drawing session, providing participants with a live cooking video to draw from as well as a still life image at the end. In the video, we made my Vibrant Vegetarian Tacos with homemade corn tortillas with black beans, butternut squash, pink pickled onion, oregano feta, and a spicy salsa! You can see the full cooking video in the highlights on their Instagram here.
Although it was slightly different without the direct vocal conversation, the outreach of the channel, even to people in America and Japan, was incredible and we were still able to communicate via the comments section in the video, talking about what everyone had been cooking and swapping food tips. SO many incredible creations have come out of the live cooking session and I am completely in awe of the talent, range of styles and insane details (even our ceramics) that are captured in these beautiful images, animations and sculptures, and happy that this could come from cooking together virtually. You can see more of the incredible responses on Instagram here.
We’ve agreed to do this once a month and I’m excited to take part in the June edition! Updates will come on Instagram so make sure you’re following Plate Talks. After each “Cooking With” call, I will share a recipe from the dish - this time, it’s the homemade Masa Harina tortillas that were made during the call.
Images by: @platetalks, @yogeechandra, @cararoooney, @jessiewsart, @vickymadethis