a taste of chris caldicott’s world food alphabet

January 29, 2013September 14, 2017 ~ jama ~ 13 Comments

#46 in an ongoing series of posts celebrating the alphabet.

Fancy some Moroccan dates, farm fresh eggs from France, bananas from the Caribbean? How about a stroll through the street markets of Burma, Guatemala and England? Now, I know that if you chanced upon a particular street vendor in Thailand, you’d surely insist on a bowl of yummy noodles. Sitting around a low table on your plastic stool, you’d likely find the happy conversation every bit as satisfying as the food.

Acclaimed UK food and travel writer and photo journalist Chris Caldicott serves up an international feast for the senses in his photographic alphabet of world food. He takes us to Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, giving us a fascinating glimpse of how food is grown, transported, sold, cooked, eaten and shared. Far more than a standard “A is for Apple” compendium, each photograph in World Food Alphabet (Frances Lincoln, 2012) tells a story with an interesting cultural and geographical context, showing people interacting with particular foods in their everyday lives.

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friday feast: celebrating mary oliver’s “poppies”

January 18, 2013September 17, 2017 ~ jama ~ 55 Comments

“Oh Lord, how shining and festive is your gift to us, if we only look, and see.” ~ Mary Oliver (“Look and See”, Why I Wake Early)

What do you see when you look out your window?

Thank goodness for Mary Oliver when you need a good share of hope, a reminder to turn your face to the light. Poppies speak of many things, in general, the imagination — but yellow stands for wealth and success, red for pleasure, white for peace. Enjoy Oliver’s “invitation to happiness” and this photo bouquet of color, beauty, joy, remembrance. Bask in the light of her words and shine on. 🙂

POPPIES
by Mary Oliver

The poppies send up their
orange flares; swaying
in the wind, their congregations
are a levitation

of bright dust, of thin
and lacy leaves.
There isn’t a place
in this world that doesn’t

sooner or later drown
in the indigos of darkness,
but now, for a while,
the roughage

shines like a miracle
as it floats above everything
with its yellow hair.
Of course nothing stops the cold,

black, curved blade
from hooking forward—
of course
loss is the great lesson.

But I also say this: that light
is an invitation
to happiness,
and that happiness,

when it’s done right,
is a kind of holiness,
palpable and redemptive.
Inside the bright fields,

touched by their rough and spongy gold,
I am washed and washed
in the river
of earthly delight—

and what are you going to do—
what can you do
about it—
deep, blue night?

~ from New and Selected Poems, Vol. I (Beacon Press, 1993)

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peeking into carl warner’s a world of food

November 13, 2012September 14, 2017 ~ jama ~ 25 Comments

“Picture yourself in a boat on a river, with tangerine trees and marmalade skies . . . “

When I first heard these lyrics, little did I realize one day I’d actually be able to see and practically taste an alternate universe where everything is made of food. Thanks to London-based photographer Carl Warner, I can hula ‘neath pasta palm trees, tiptoe across cucumber bridges, climb cocoa-dusted mountains, skinny dip in a lemonade pool, and practice my backstroke in a sea of mushroom soup. Naturally I’d live in a nougat house and lick my lollipop trees every hour on the hour. Does this man know me or what?

*Yellow: Couscous, rice & grains desert, Emmental cheese pyramids, pasta palm trees, tortilla chip plants, tagliatelle & crispy pancake, mushroom and bean gondola.*

Open Mr. Warner’s new children’s book, A World of Food (Abrams, 2012), and just see if you don’t want to climb into every page and eat your way to oblivion. Featuring twelve wondrous, magical, incredibly edible color-themed foodscapes, this tasty tome will tempt and delight kids ages 1 to 100.

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chatting with shelley rotner about homer

June 26, 2012September 4, 2017 ~ jama ~ 5 Comments

Hot Dog! Throw me a bone!

Award-winning children’s author, photo-illustrator and photo journalist Shelley Rotner is here to tell us all about her latest picture book, Homer (Orchard/Scholastic, 2012)!

Once again, Shelley has collaborated with author/illustrator Diane deGroat to create another awesome, adorable, hilarious dog book that’s got tails wagging and readers rolling over with glee all over the country.

You may remember when Diane stopped by in 2009 to tell us about their first book together, Dogs Don’t Brush Their Teeth!, which won the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Best Book Award and was named one of Time’s Top Ten Children’s Books for 2009.

For Homer, Shelley and Diane again combined photographs with digital art to create a series of tickle-your-funny-bone illustrations, and this time they’ve upped the ante with a charming story that pairs dogs with baseball.