INDEX interview
Christine Greaves The Index VIP*
This Langton-based food stylist has created eye-popping feasts for films including the Harry Potter series, Chocolat and The Da Vinci Code, and worked on advertisements for brands such as Heinz. Sasa Jankovic talks to her
So how did you become a food stylist?
I was working in the creative department of a big advertising agency, but left when I had my son. Some time after that, I got a call from an ex-colleague who was working at a production company, asking me if I wanted to work on a Mother’s Pride commercial for them. I said I had no idea how to work with food, even though I enjoyed cooking, but he persuaded me to do it by convincing me that I’d get plenty of help from the props department. The next thing I knew I was in a studio arranging buns on a plate and getting paid for it.
And you were hooked? Yes, and at the time there were only about 10 people in London doing this kind of thing, so the work ended up being shared among us. Eventually I branched out into technical food styling, creating fake food for shoots or using non-food ingredients to enhance the look of real food. It’s great fun, but I can’t divulge any of my trade secrets or I’ll get into trouble.
So is your day filled with endless cooking and baking? In the film world, stars often have strange eating habits – Joanna Lumley won’t eat anything with a face, while Joely Richardson doesn’t do tomatoes as they make her bloated. They may be on diets (though Jude Law eats like a horse) or have
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food allergies, so I have to take all that into account when I’m creating things they’re going to have to eat in a scene, and make things with different ingredients for different people. And then there are the quantities to think about. When I was working on the film Notting Hill, there was a scene where lots of brownies get eaten. It took two days to shoot and I had to make hundreds of brownies because there were so many takes – by
Is there a food scene from a movie you haven’t worked on that you particularly like? I think the film Babette’s Feast was wonderfully done, and the food in Julie & Julia looked quite impressive.
Do you get sick of food, given that you work with it all day long?
Not at all. I’m a total foodie and even on my day off I’ll be cooking because I find it so relaxing. I rarely eat what I’m working with during the day, though, or I’d be the size of a house. Much as I love food, I’d never want to work as a caterer feeding all the cast and crew on a movie – imagine having to
“Stars often have strange eating habits that I’ll have to take into account...”
the end of it, we were all sick of the sight of them. Luckily I don’t think my food has ever made anyone ill, but, for safety’s sake, I do have to have over £1- million worth of insurance to cover that possibility.
Do you have to source all the food yourself?
Luckily for me there’s a Shepperton-based company called Home Economist that supplies everything I need, from food to ovens and fridges – I just tell them exactly what I want and they deliver it all to the set. I always over-order because if I ran out of food and it created a break in filming that stopped everyone working, it would be be a nightmare.
make breakfast, lunch and dinner for at least 200 people every day. That might take the fun out of cooking.
Are there any restaurants you rate locally?
My husband and I really like Le Rendez-Vous in Tunbridge Wells, but because I love cooking so much we don’t eat out often. I’d rather spend more money on going to a really good restaurant now and again than eating out more frequently at cheaper places that aren’t that amazing.
So what’s your signature cooking style at home? I love cooking French and Italian food, and sometimes I even rustle up something eastern European. I spent a lot of time
working
on food advertising in eastern Europe a few years ago because there weren’t really any food stylists out there, so they needed to ship someone in who knew what they were doing.
And are you fussy about your own food’s provenance? I always try to support my local farmers’ markets, and I buy all my eggs from a place down the road from me, rather than from the supermarket. I’ll choose organic produce if it’s available, and I like to make as much as I can from scratch, particularly bread and cakes.
Any tips for anyone wanting to work in food styling? I started almost by accident 35 years ago and with no formal training. These days, you need at least to have completed a top-level catering course. Once you’ve got that knowledge, I think the best way to learn is by doing. There are masses of little tricks that you’ll pick up as you go along, and you’ve got to be prepared to think on your feet. Another good thing to do is get in touch with food magazines and see if you can get some work experience. I know someone who did this and the magazine liked him so much they took him on. Food styling is such a popular career choice these days that it pays to be tenacious.
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The INDEX magazine september 2011
*Very Interesting Person
Photo: Carolyn Scholes
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