Food Photos: McDonalds Style

According to the McDonald's 2011 annual report, there are 33,510 McDonald's restaurants in 119 countries. In Korea, where I visited for three week, the menu is the same as in the United States, and McDonald's also offers "McDelivery" 24/7.  Below is my photo of "McMotorcycles."

 
Photos of food products play an integral part of the marketing and promotional strategy for McDonald's.  Companies spend millions of dollars on advertising to entice us to buy.  For me, I tend to buy items when I can see photos or, in the case of Amazon.com, "look inside" the books.

The same is true for cookbooks.  I prefer cookbooks with photos of ready-to-eat dishes as well as at key steps in the preparation.  For this blog, I try to take as many pictures as possible. 

I recently came across this video on the McDonald's (Canada) YouTube channel that shows their process to take beautiful food pictures.  Whether you are interested in food, photography, or both, I believe you will enjoy this video.  I definitely feel inspired to improve my own food photography after watching this!

Let me know what you think about the video.  By subscribing to the Eat@Home blog, you'll receive at e-mail whenever I create a post (usually once a week). Subscribe to Eat @ Home by Email.

Street Market

One night, while we were in South Korea, my wife said, "let's go to the street market." I said, "let's go!" and we left the apartment. The Korean street market was not far away and consisted of several blocks of fresh produce, baked goods, tofu, meats, poultry, housewares, clothes, and shoes. Most of the food items available were fresh. The fish were swimming in tanks! The tofu and breads were still warm.

Even though some of the fruits were pricey (watermelons were $15-25 each), the vegetables were more reasonably priced. I also loved that everything was only one or two connections away from the source. The baker was also the seller. The seller of the produce knew the farmers.

In the collage below, you can see three separate booths which illustrate the vivid colors and varieties of items.

Most cities, whether large or small, have a farmers' market. In Nashville there are several farmer/vendors that sell a variety of produce. Even in my small community of 2,000 residents are two produce markets.

I encourage you to locate the farmers' market near you and skip the grocery store. You'll find fresher produce at cheaper prices.

Walnut Meatballs

This recipe for walnut meatballs has been a family favorite for four generations.  I believe that my Great Aunt Edith (Generation 1) contributed this recipe to my mother's (Generation 2) recipe collection.  As I mentioned previously, my mother gave me (Generation 3) a recipe box for Christmas years ago.  This recipe is one that I added soon after starting my recipe collection.  This recipe is a favorite with my daughter (Generation 4) as well.

This particular recipe evidently is the combination of two separate recipes, both from the same now unknown book.  The walnut meatballs come from p. 320 and the barbecue sauce is from p. 295.   Both of these recipes could be prepared separately to use in conjunction with other sauces or proteins.

Prepare

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly oil a 9x13 pan.

Ingredients & Directions for the walnut balls
1 1/4C Italian-style cracker crumbs
3/4C ground walnuts
1/2t salt
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 1/2T sage
3/4C grated cheddar cheese
2 pressed garlic cloves
3T minced parsley
4 eggs (or 4T ground flax seed + 3/4C water)

Mix all ingredients well.  Form into balls approximately 1.25 inches in diameter.  Place balls in baking dish.

Ingredients & Directions for the barbecue sauce

1/4C oil
1/4C lemon juice
3/4C apricot preserves
1/2C ketchup
2T brown sugar
2T grated onion
1/2t salt
1/2t oregano
Dash hot pepper sauce

Place all ingredients in a sauce pan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.

Final Directions

Pour sauce over walnut balls, ensuring that all are well-coated.  Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

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