I have this growing obsession with Instagram food art accounts. It kind of blows my mind to see plates as canvases, only instead of watercolors or pastels, the media of choice include fruits and veggies, candies and cookies.
Not that I’d ever present these as here, parents! You can do these yourself and then your kids will eat their veggies! Just consider all this food art some really impressive inspiration. After all, unlike most other kinds of art, food art is designed to disappear pretty fast. That is, unless, you manage to Instagram it first.
LeeSamantha
Samantha Lee (see what she did there?) is a food artist who says she likes making dishes that tell a story. I think the story is, “I’m really freaking good at turning pop culture icons into food art.” Which is why I’ll just sit here and applaud from this side of the screen instead of trying to do much with my kids’ apples besides slice them up. Browsing through her work, I didn’t know which I loved more, Mr. T or Eva + Wall-E. Then, I saw Frida Kalho. Win.
Food Diggity
We’ve shared the awesome Foodnited States series on Cool Mom Picks, and it just keeps on going with recent additions including my home state of New Pork and Stacie’s favorite, S’moregon. (What, no kale?) Other fun stuff in the feed too, but this series takes the cake. Or the Pie..daho.
Emily Blincoe
Emily is a photographer based in Austin and Nashville who arranges all kinds of things from rocks to toothbrushes to found objects, but the food arrangements are truly stunning. Wow, what an eye. Wouldn’t these all make amazing kitchen posters? (And psst…see more on her professional website under arrangements. I can’t stop scrolling through it all.)
GRoehrs
We recently discovered the fantastic Instagram account of Gretchen Röehrs which blends high fashion drawings with food for clothing. And yes, there is totally a Lady Gaga meat dress joke in there somewhere. But not on this feed, in which she’s more likely to pay tribute to her favorite chefs or fashion week designers, as in her recreation of Jason Wu’s 2006 resort collection coat, top left.
Bentomonsters
We always joke about how we never feature insanely intricate bento design instructions and say, “c’mon! It’s easy!” Well Ming does actually make all these things for her son, and features them on her feed. Whether it’s easy or not for her to make Roald Dahl themed lunches, Pixar character mooncakes and Totoro open-faced sandwiches I have no idea, but she sure looks like she’s having fun.
Tisha Cherry
With so many paeans to Totoro and Pixar characters in Instagram food art — which I do love — I really appreciate the urban, hip pop culture food art from Tisha Cherry. Like Kanye’s face on a dollar bill made out of Matcha. Portraits of Lauryn Hill and Mike Tyson. Jeff Koons-esque balloon dogs made out of Tic Tacs. And tons of Oreo art, which we’ve featured here before, paying homage to images as diverse as the Fiorucci angels, the beloved poop emoji, the Twin Towers, and Vincent Van Gogh.
Semi Sweet Mike
Cookie maker extraordinaire Mike Tamplin of Semi Sweet Designs reminds me exactly why I’m willing to buy cookies like these and not even think about attempting them on my own. I don’t know that many designers who can make an ampersand look frameable, let alone a cookie designer. He’s also the talent behind the Star Wars macarons our readers all loved so much. (You have good taste!)
Culinary Canvas
Lots of artists do amazing things with food on plates, but I’m really taken with Lauren Purnell’s work (also on her personal feed, LoPurnell) which is so evocative, lush and layered that it looks like fine art. She is a Canadian artist studying in London right now, and she takes lots of her inspiration from her European travels — a row of Notting Hill apartments, a Dutch Windmill, a seaside view of Lake Como.
Honey and Butter
This Costa Mesa based airstream serves phenomenally cool macarons out of their airstream and sell out daily. No surprise, considering their creations range from emoji to the world’s cutest puppies. Almost too cute to eat. (But I’d definitely eat them.)
DakotaSky
Russian food blogger and stylist Daryna Kosar photographs lots of things beautifully but the food photos are something else. Think: A Frida Kahlo necklace made out of radishes, a Twitter logo made from toast and cupcake sprinkles, a bee made out of pineapple jam and fresh berries. Amazing.
The Indigo Bunting
Erin is a designer and illustrator which accounts for the creativity she brings to her photos. While she covers all sorts of fun things, I’m partial to her food art faces she makes for her son Miles. Heck, maybe they’d get my kids to eat this stuff.
Julie’s Kitchen Don’t you want all of these food collages to be your iPhone wallpaper? This pro food photographer’s other work is just as wonderful. I love that her photos really embrace the natural beauty of fresh fruits, veggies and herbs, even when it’s all a part of a more elaborate tableau.
FoodTypography
If you like type (like I do) and you like puns (like I do) then you’ll totally understand why I had to include this fabulous Instagram account from uber talented Ohio art director and food stylist Danielle Evans. Not all of her work is a play on words but those are definitely the ones that make me smile the most.
