Next in our Atlanta Food Stylist series is Vanessa Parker. Vanessa brings a calming presence to what can often be a whirlwind of activity during a food photo shoot. 

Vanessa Parker Q&A

We’ve been working with Atlanta-based food stylist Vanessa Parker for a number of years in our Atlanta studio on shoots for clients such as Big Green Egg, Inspire Brands, and Smart Mouth Pizza. We caught up with her in between shoots to find out how she got her start, what she enjoys most about her job, and more! You can see some of Vanessa’s work on her website at vanessaparkerfoodstylist.com

Q:  How long have you been styling food?

A: 25 years this year. My first experience being on set, doing food, was on Alton Brown’s show Good Eats in September of 2001.

Q:  Do you have any sort of formal culinary training?

A:  I do not. I fully intended on going to culinary school. I had finished my degree in art history, but I had been working in restaurants since I was 15. After I finished school, I realized that I really didn’t want to do anything with art history, so I thought I’d go to culinary school.

I remember my sister and I used to cook a lot because our parents worked, so we were doing our own thing. One time when we were kids, we made a chocolate cake, and I was super into decorating it. I put a cherry on top, and then I put – get this – parsley around the cherry for some green, and we took pictures of it! I bet my mom still has it. Wouldn’t that be hilarious? My first!

Q:  How did you get started in food styling?

A:  I was actually looking at culinary schools, trying to figure out where I was going to go, and then I met Maureen Petrosky. She was working at the same restaurant as me, and also on Good Eats, when I met her at a party. So I asked her what culinary schools she’d recommend. She said, “Why don’t you come work with me a little bit and see if you really want to go back to school?”

So I started working with Maureen, who was leading the production kitchen on Good Eats at the time, and I was her assistant. Then she moved back to New York, and I was offered her position on Good Eats. I felt like I still wanted to go to culinary school, but I just never ended up going. Truthfully, working on Good Eats was basically like getting a culinary degree. It was very informative, and it pushed me in ways that culinary school couldn’t have.

I got super lucky to meet a person that was willing to teach me. I had zero background besides growing up with a mother who cooked at home, and I always loved to cook. Maureen took me under her wing and showed me everything because she knew that she and her husband were always going to move back to New York, where they were from. They had only planned to be in Atlanta while he went to Life Chiropractic College.

It was a bit of a surprise when Good Eats offered me the position because I’d only been on the show for about 2 years. Maureen is my best friend, and I still talk to her till this day. And, when I wasn’t on Good Eats, I’d assist other stylists. Terry Colby was one of the people that I worked with. I would assist on commercials with her and Andrea Frank. I bounced around to whoever would hire me, and just kept going.

Q:  Who are a few of your clients past or present?

A:  I was on Good Eats for 12 years, running the production kitchen. I also have worked with Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Popeyes, Krystal, Lowe’s, Chick-fil-A, and Chicken Salad Chick.

Q:  What is your favorite dish to cook for your family?

A:  I like to cook with my son because I think it’s important to teach kids how to cook, and it’s super fun. I love to cook things like mole, for instance, something that’s kind of complicated and has a good history and variations. And then I try to hone it. I kind of study it somewhat. I love to make things that aren’t your everyday. I do it to challenge myself, and I just love to eat, too. It makes everybody happy when I’m trying something new.

Q:  What is the first thing people ask when you tell them what you do for a living?

A:  Their first reaction normally is, “Oh, so you’re the one that makes it look so good, and it never looks like that in the restaurant?” And I explain to them that if you saw photos of what you really get in the restaurant, that would not entice you to buy it. We’re just enhancing it.

Q:  What is the one biggest misconception people have about your job?

A:  You know, I don’t think that people think that it’s easy, but I don’t think that people understand how hard it actually is. We’re not sitting there fixing cookies all day. And when you get into location jobs… we’ve been in some trenches. There have been some jobs where it’s pouring down rain, winds, tents flying, and we’re standing in front of a 350-degree fryer. It can be a lot of craziness. You never know what to expect!.

Q:  What are your favorite and least favorite foods to style?

A:  My favorite are sandwiches because it’s a sculpture. It’s something that you can be a little bit creative with, but it’s structural. Some of my other favorite things to do are, like, not just a singular sandwich, but when it’s a stack of sandwiches. Things where you have to get really creative about how you’re going to support it. It’s a lot like architecture that you got to think through about it. I love weird stuff like that because it challenges me.

My least favorite is ice cream. Is that what everyone says? Also, candy. We did a candy show on Good Eats. And candy is so difficult. It’s one of those things that you can’t control and easily redo. We were filming at PC&E, and my prep kitchen was out in the bay, and it was summertime, so it was hot and humid. And when you’re trying to work with candy, the atmosphere is so important – you know, the temperature, the humidity, all those things. It was a challenge.

Q:  How does styling for film and video differ from styling for still photography?

A:  Film is a little more forgiving. We’re not as up close. Also, you have to have more volume of food for multiple takes.

On the photography side, you do have some more flexibility, because there are post-production things that can happen in a photo that can’t happen in film. And in a photo, it’s so detailed. Every little thing matters.

Q:  What are your most unusual styling techniques?

A:  Lotioning a tortilla. That would seem super weird to somebody, like, why on earth would you do that? But you have to think about it from the perspective that lotion is used to moisturize skin and keep it from cracking, so that could apply also to tortillas.

Sometimes we use denture cream because it adheres to wet things. A lot of food is wet so that’s why it’s super helpful.

Q:  What’s the weirdest thing in your kit and what do you use it for?

A:  I have one tool that I love, and it’s a little, silver dental spatula. It’s really small, and it’s so good for getting in between tiny spaces. It’s the one tool that I’m always reaching for. I had worked with a stylist from L.A. about 20 years ago when I assisted her on a Taco Bell shoot with Shaquille O’Neal. She had this tool, and I was like, oh my God, this thing is awesome, so she gave it to me. I had it for a long time, and then I lost it, and it broke my heart! It took me forever to figure out what it was or how to buy another one. Once I found out that it was a dental tool, I now buy 6 at a time. Because they’re so small, they easily get knocked off the counter and lost frequently.

Q:  If you weren’t a stylist, what do you think you would be doing instead?

A:  Since I studied art history, I’d probably be working in museums, or in the art world. Maybe art restoration because I like working with really detailed stuff.

Q:  What would be your “dream” shoot?

A:  One where I get to collaborate on what was being shot and how it was being shot. And if there was no time frame. That’s usually the thing that we’re all running up against is time and money. I would love to just create fun, beautiful things out of food.

Q:  What’s the most unusual food you’ve had to prepare for a shoot?

A:  One, I would say, is probably haggis. On Good Eats we had to come up with a lot of fun stuff. I remember having to outfit an ancient Japanese pantry. So I went to Buford Highway Farmers Market and just walked the aisles and found the coolest, weirdest – I had no idea what most of these things were – things to put into jars and have sitting on the shelf.