Gendy AlimurungSonya Vatomsky is a 24 year old book editor at the Cheezburger Network (of the famous I Can Has Cheezburger cats). She has a background in Linguistics, but her first New York Times bestseller features misspelled cat captions. She ponders the unbearable cuteness of food in her blog Epicute.
What is the cutest food you have ever seen?
I'm definitely a sucker for heart-shaped things, and the carved tree cake is my ultimate favourite.
Does cute food always taste delicious? Some of it looks great, but…is it all just good looks?
Some of it doesn't taste so good, certainly. I think hard candies are maybe the guiltiest of looking gorgeous and tasting ghastly! Most of the items I feature are made by people for whom cooking is a profession or a passion, though, so I am pretty confident in their deliciousness.
I imagine the Japanese have cornered cute food preparation. What do you think?
I think what the Japanese have cornered is an attention to detail in everyday cooking. They have Hello Kitty, sure, but America has Snoopy, and Russia has Cheburasha, and so on — I think where the Japanese really get their cute credentials is from constantly reinventing the way in which they display their daily meals. We don't usually see that kind of presentation outside of 5 Star restaurants, which is a shame!
Is cute food just one step away from food porn? Or maybe it's soft-core food porn?
If you'll pardon the pun, the term “food porn” sort of turns me off. I'm not fetishizing food any more than our other site Daily Squee fetishizes kittens — it's just something nice to look at during a stressful workday. And I certainly don't want my blog to be a substitute for actually eating cupcakes!
How did you get started with this blog?
I think Ben (CEO of the Cheezburger Network) caught me looking at pastries on Flickr when I was supposed to be working and asked if I could blog about it instead.
Does blogging about food make you hungry? Put another way, how do you look at all this food and not have to immediately go out and eat it?
Usually not, as long as I don't blog on an empty stomach!
Does cute food ever cross the line into creepy?
Totally! I had to feature this little guy as a link instead of a post in consideration for all of the arachnophobes (me included!) in the audience:
It seems like most of your cute food is sweet. Can something like steak ever be cute? Or pot roast?
To me, what makes food photography cute is a combination of the actual meal, bright lighting and great backdrops. There just aren't as many photographers shooting pot roast in daylight against a polka dot print! I think savory foods can be just as cute, though — my favourite savory photographers are Shay Aaron, who makes miniatures, and Bowhaus, who takes breathtaking breakfast photos.
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