It's graphic, it's foodie...you could say Taste, The Infographic Book of Food, was positively written for this blog.

Do you have folders of recipes scrawled on paper scraps, envelopes and post it notes? Can never find the steak sauce recipe you made that one time? You need this in your life then to organise you whit a bit of style thrown in to boot.

The Illustrated Cooking Journal is beautifully illustrated throughout but contains clear recipe writing areas, with a sensible amount of space to write. I like the provision made for servings, cooking and prep time. There are even sections to divide them into starters, mains and baking as well as a handy measurement section at the back including the mystery that is US cup measurements.

Now, where's that steak sauce recipe? Oh right here!

This Mexican chocolate from Un Elefante is just a little bit amazing. These hand painted bars are created with plant based colouring and flavoured with fragrant and often surprising spices and ingredients.

It's hardly a surprise I like a bit of design on my walls at home and I like to choose pieces carefully. Currently on display at Graphic Foodie Towers is a selection of limited edition screen prints, framed ephemera and design and photography from some of my talented, creative friends. (No, I don't know what they see in me either.)



And my kitchen, one of the last rooms left to renovate (because I can't make up my mind what to have apart from concrete worktops!), already has a small collection going including an original oil painting from my fair hands circa 1998, but I'm pleased to have a new print to add to the mix. I'm a massive fan of Ana Zaja Petrak's work, the Italian and graphic nature of her illustrations obviously appeals to me in spades. I Vini D' Italia is a more grown up print from her, but still has her playful and casual style that I love.

Twitter is great. Sometimes you get loons taking out their bad days in your connect feed, but on the whole it's positive. Then you get a tweet like this:

I have no idea if this post should come under "design" or "food". I don't have a category for "most beautiful ice lolly on the planet", but that's what you're going to get when you have a collaboration between architect/artist Manu Kumar, Stefan Gendl from design agency Neubau Berlin and chef Heiko Antoniewicz.

"Nuna is a revolutionary popsicle developed exclusively on a sustainable bamboo stick. Beautifully designed and manufactured by an international group of experts.

Comprised of all natural ingredients in an explosive variety of fresh flavours, each formulated by award winning and internationally acclaimed master chef Heiko Antoniewicz. The unique one of a kind form evolved from the minds of architect Manu Kumar and designer Stefan Gandl."

I've featured some of her paper craft before and here is some more lovely stuff by Sarah Illenberger. You can buy a selection of her work as a print which would be nice for a Christmas gift for a foodie friend (HINT).

I've always had a soft spot for colourful Italian design kitchenware. Going to the showrooms over there as a kid was such a thrill, seeing the counters glistening in jewelled coloured sugar bowls or toothpick holders, often taking the form of animals, figures or unusual geometric shapes. The beige and practical kitchenware always looked so boring back in the UK! But now the kitchen area here has become a lot sexier, with people investing in well designed kitchens. And along with them some products and appliances that marry aesthetic and function, objects to display and enjoy as well as use.

The big names here are probably Guzzini and Alessi. Fratelli Guzzini was established in 1912, creating objects from ox horn. But their innovative approach to using new materials and investment in design research have ensured their long term success from the introduction of Plexiglas in the 30s, acrylic injection moulding in the 60s and gas assisted injection moulding in the 90s. They now combine modern materials with porcelain, glass, metals and wood and work with leading international designers to keep their products fresh and relevant for today.

Alessi wasn't far behind, stating in 1921 and specialising in metal but now also use porcelain, glass, wood and plastics. Their ethos has always been to produce hand-crafted items with the aid of machines and this can be seen in the thought behind the products and quality of finish. They also use select external designers, whilst keeping a tight reign on production and quality.



What I like about these companies is that their products are affordable to many, and making design accessible to everyone can only be a good thing! Everyone should recognise some of their products, be it the Juicy Salif lemon juicer by Philippe Starck for Alessi (above) or a classic salad bowl and servers from Guzzini. I suppose these products bring a bit of colour (particularly Guzzini) and joy (Alessi) into our everyday lives.

I've seen portraits constructed form food before but love the graphic, pop-art nature of using food filled cups to create this visual. Created via a collaboration between a group of designers and curated by Seville based designer and Illustrator Martin Sati.




More about this, including progress shots at Martinsati.com

Via www.creativebloq.com

Sometimes designers like to blow off a little steam after a day's work by designing even more stuff. Yeah, I don't get us either. Anyway, lovely self-initiated fruit illustration project by Christopher Dina.

Love this set of cake posters that were created by design agency Purpose for an internal 'bake-off' competition. Although they have been stripped back to simple graphic forms, they are still pretty recognisable as Battenberg, Tiramisu, Millionaire’s Shortbread, Cherry Bakewell and New York Cheesecake. Here are my faves...

Infographics are everywhere at the moment but love this one of a cupcake anatomy from www.smallbatchcreative.com

There is something I really love about food illustrated as papercuts. The tactile nature, colour and intricacies of food can be better represented than flat designs. These ones from Sarah Dennis are particularly gorgeous. And interestingly, her brother is the sous chef at Sussex restaurant Jeremy’s.



“I was thrilled to take on this job and worked hard to create a conceptual plate of gastronomic art inspired by the delicate garden salad. I sketched out the idea for my dish, then individually cut each element by hand from paper before arranging each piece onto a clean white paper cut plate. I particularly enjoyed curling the paper into a courgette and cutting micro cress to create texture. I loved working on this piece which has inspired me to create a whole range of food inspired artwork. I'd love to see a restaurant capture the magic of their creations in this creative way.”



www.sarah-dennis.co.uk
Check out her shop here.

Wonderful brand identity illustrations for Menigo, a Swedish wholesale food supplier, from the incredibly talented Lotta Nieminen.


Image from www.lottanieminen.com.

This is a new one on me. They Draw and Cook is a wonderful site of visual recipes submitted by illustrators and artists from all over the globe. Practical? Not always, no. Beautiful? Mais oui. Submitting one myself is on my to-do list.




The site owners have also published a few books too. My favourite being this cocktail one.

www.theydrawandcook.com/

Grow Your Own Calendar, £43.00 + postage

I spent many an hour at art college painting food of some sort, fish, fruit, veg... turns out that swedes are particularly tricky to "capture". But what if you could paint tastes that really represent the food or drink?

Seeing Is Believing is an interesting exhibition by synaesthetic artist Phillipa Stanton. Apparently she can see sound, taste and smell in shape, colour and texture which she represents in her paintings such as Rwanda Coffee Taste, Rosso Toscano 'Ciclope' or even Pimms and Lemonade. The image at the top, taken from the artists website, is titled (in quite some detail!) Springbank Whisky, 10.5yrs, Without Water - (Private Cask).

Interesting taste bud diagrams from one of my favourite sites www.informationisbeautiful.net (great for geeks like me). See the rest of the diagrams in detail here.