516: How to Make Food Look Delicious Enough to Drive Traffic with Jo Keohane

In episode 516, Jo Keohane teaches us how to style food to make it look as delicious as possible in order to drive more traffic to our blogs.

Since graduating from Culinary School in NYC in 2010 Jo Keohane freelanced as a Recipe Developer and Food Stylist in test kitchens of many America’s best known publications, like Bon Appetit Magazine, Epicurious and Saveur. She has also worked with a variety of household brands like William Sonoma, Weightwatchers, Staub Cookware, Danone, Kraft and more.

She started off life as a BBC journalist and then worked in PR in London. But a love of cooking and a desire to find a fulfilling career which would allow her to spend more time with her 3 kids took her back to school to study cooking. After moving to the USA in she was lucky enough to attend the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City.

Now she runs her own food blog - The Family Food Kitchen - helping other busy families to eat well even when time is short! her blog focusses on easy, delicious and do-able recipes - and contains lots of one pot, sheet pan and easy meal ideas.

In this episode, you’ll learn about what to consider before you start shooting your recipe, including how to layer and pick ingredients, backdrops, props and garnishes.

- Food Styling is a Problem Solving Exercise: During recipe development, plan ahead to make sure your ingredients will help you make your dish look appealing.

- Don’t Hold Back on Good-Quality Ingredients: Better quality ingredients will have more vibrancy and make your photos pop more.

- Create Depth and Movement in Food Photography: Use layering to create depth in your photos and take photos of movement (e.g. pouring a sauce).

- Balance Perfection and Authenticity: While it’s important to make your photos look appealing and create intrigue avoid overly perfect photos - crumbs and spills in small quantities add character.

- Proper Ingredient Storage: Store ingredients to maintain freshness and quality. For example improper storage of herbs can lead to wilting and might detract from your photos.

- Adjust Cooking Times for Food Photography: There’s a difference between cooking to eat food and cooking for photography. Adjust cooking times to ensure that the food looks its best on camera.

- Use Props and Tools for Food Styling: Jo discusses the importance of having a set tray with essential tools and props for food styling, such as sharp knives, tweezers, Q-tips, paper towels, toothpicks, spritz bottles, squeeze bottles, spatulas, and brushes to aid in food styling.

- Layering Garnishes to Enhance the Dish: Use different garnishing techniques to elevate the appearance of dishes for photography. By layering garnishes strategically, you can add depth and visual interest to the dish.

Connect with Jo Keohane

Website | Instagram