Summer Grilling and A New Car!

It's been a fun and very hot summer so far! Really excited to share I finally got my new car I ordered from Ford almost 20 months ago. Productions just got a whole lot better :). Dream car for a small business owner, and it was well worth the wait.

Other than that, lots of grilling has been had. Can’t shoot too many hot dogs and hamburgers. Check out the motion section for my lastest shoot playing with colors, and making food look fun!

As the summer winds down to its last month I’m ready to turn the AC off and see what Fall brings.

Stills - Beyond Meat Commercial Shoot

This was a really fun shoot in Los Angeles at the end of the summer. I got to work with the best, Chuck Studios from Amsterdam and my favorite Table Top Director Olaf van Gerwen. Food really does get famous here. It was a real treat to be with a fun, creative team. Olaf was capturing the beautiful video work with food stylist Joseph Celis. After the scenes were wrapped I came onto set to work with the stylist, and models to capture various stills of the Beyond Meat Product and the recipe that went with it. It was great to capture the natural moments and real expressions of the talent. Of course we highlighted the food and showed how appetizing it was! It was a really great product to work with. The Beyond Team was there for the shoot and loved everything we were able to capture for them. It was a busy 2 days at the various spots on location. We captured a back to school scene, friends at their apartment, and a outdoor BBQ scene. It really takes a village to get these projects off the ground. I’m so glad I was able to be apart of it! You can see the work out now.

Go buy Beyond Meat, it is soo good!!

B.T.S. Ghiradelli Chocolates (Safe Set)

What a fun shoot to wrap the summer with. It was great to work virtually with the creative team at Ghiradelli Chocolates in California on some new packaging work promoting smores with their chocolates. You can’t beat that! A caramel filled Ghiradelli chocolate lightly melted with toasted marshmallow between two graham crackers, yummy! We worked on different concepts for that over 2 days as well as capturing some additional chocolate experimental shots across their portfolio. It was great to have the creative freedom and work with chocolate stylist Liz Duffy. Can’t wait to see the final concepts out.

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Felicia Perretti is a commercial food and beverage photographer and director based in New York City. She works nationally with food and beverage clients in advertising, packaging, editorial, and video. She has worked with food and drink in all shapes and knows how to craft the right team to get the job done! Her passion for food and beverage shine through on set as well as outside of work in her everyday life. Whether it’s trying new restaurants, traveling, or cooking with her husband Joe. Send her an email or give a call to discuss your next project, she would be more than happy to chat!

Summer Fancy Food Show 2019

Another great year in the books for the Summer Fancy Food Show held at the Javits Center in New York City. I only had time for 1 day this year, but managed to hit almost every aisle. By the end of the day I walked about 8.5 miles…. not bad, snacked along the way too! ;)

As always there are so many innovative and amazing products being introduced and displayed at the show. Things already on shelves and items just being released. I could write a novel if I discussed every single item I saw from National to International! My post will consist of some of my personal highlights and products that peaked my interest.

I started the morning with breakfast; booth #274 had fresh, tasty Mina shakshuka at the ready. Sunny egg with dipping bread! The shakshuka was hot, a little kick at the end, but a great earthy flavor. This product was made by Casablanca Foods. They also had harissa to try but I had a lot of things ahead of me.

I came across a lot of companies selling coconut water, which has its audience (not me) but there was 1 company Eliya that had a great presentation with the slickest bottle I’ve seen. Very dynamic and peaked my interest to try their coconut water. Other than coconut water there was a spike in oxygenated water brands showing. Being an avid exerciser I’ve seen and read about these brands but never decided to try them. I know it has its benefits, it’s better for you than Gatorade, but I still need to do more research on my part.

On the topic of drinks, today’s consumers are drinking less alcohol. The market for non-alcoholic drinks is climbing. Consumers want to enjoy the drink, socialize, and not leave with a buzz. The show usually has companies promoting their drink mixers, but also a handful of companies were playing off the flavorful drinks without the alcohol. One company showing was called Mingle Mocktails. I believe they were at the show before? Either way, this is a great time to be in the market. Their flavors were great and I felt worked really well in this marketplace. Also their drinks are available on Amazon!! Perfect for our generation. A new vendor showcasing their sparkling drink was Spindrift Beverage Co. Again, a great stand along sparkling water with real fruit. Their website does offer drink recipes but this can be consumed as is. I tried it and really loved the flavors they offered.

The list goes on with drink vendors, coconut water, and cold brew coffee. If I had more time I would love to talk more about the drinks.

Overall I’m a healthy conscience eater and I do love cauliflower. So it was exciting to see the company Caulipower at the show. I believe they have showed in the past. I got to try their pizza and chicken tenders, boy were they amazing! Coming to stores in September, I think they are going to do really well. I highly recommend checking out their products. YUMM.

Some buzz words shown around the show were KETO, Protein! Nothing wrong with that, and they were great products to back up the names. These products relate really well to today’s consumers so it is important to see those and try them. Dang Foods was premiering their new keto bar which was amazing. The right chewy texture and bite your looking for. Will keep you full and feeling good. A product under Elma Farms was The Protein Ball Co. Again that was really tasty. A good amount of chewiness and flavor. To wrap up my post I was lucky enough to try BNutty! Beyond peanut butter, gourmet peanut butter. I had irresistible pretzel and was hooked. Check these guys out!

Already planning for next year. If you want me to come by your booth and check out your latest products just let me know. In the meantime, send me an email or connect on LinkedIN!

-Felicia

https://www.specialtyfood.com/shows-events/summer-fancy-food-show/

https://www.casablancafoods.com/products/mina-shakshuka-16oz

https://www.eliyanyc.com/

https://www.drinkoxigen.com/

https://www.minglemocktails.com/

https://spindriftfresh.com/

https://eatcaulipower.com/

https://dangfoods.com/

http://www.elmafarms.com/

https://www.bnutty.com/

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Felicia Perretti is a commercial food and beverage photographer and director based in New York City. She works nationally with food and beverage clients in advertising, packaging, editorial, and video. She has worked with food and drink in all shapes and knows how to craft the right team to get the job done! Her passion for food and beverage shine through on set as well as outside of work in her everyday life. Whether it’s trying new restaurants, traveling, or cooking with her husband Joe. Send her an email or give a call to discuss your next project, she would be more than happy to chat!

Fancy Food Show 2017

Jacob Javits Center

Another year has come and gone for the Fancy Food Show in New York City. Every year there is so much buzz and energy going through the aisles showing new foods, trends, making connections, and seeing old faces. It’s such a well organized and well attended event I always look forward to writing my follow up posts.
    The show comes at a unique time with the huge shake up of Amazon with Whole Foods. Some say it’s a double edged sword with this deal and the show did feel an impact. The idea of efficiency at the supermarket could disrupt the shelf space for potential food suppliers making competition more fierce. On the other hand this could open opportunities for brick and mortar as well as online retail space. Still early so we will see how things unfold!    
    My time at the Fancy Food show was a long and exciting Monday and into Tuesday afternoon catching up on aisles I may have missed. The layout of the show this year was a little different but in a good way because it was bigger. I always keep an open mind when looking into new products and seeing how innovative people are. One item I came across that really impressed me was The Matzo Project. I have some jewish food clients and I’ve had my fair share of matzo, but when I tried their version is was amazing. None of the dried out taste you get in traditional matzo. This was much more like a cracker and a very tasty one at that. Please check these guys out, amazing!  https://www.matzoproject.com/
    A poppy brand and nostalgic taste it was exciting to run into Megpie’s Booth. They are New York based but have made the leap in expanding. I know I’ve seen their colorful treats at my local Starbucks but was great to see them at the show too. I tried their blueberry tart which was oh so good. Immediately I felt like a kid again. Really if your looking to enjoy poptarts as an adult this is your breakfast or snack on the go choice.  https://www.megpies.com/
    Another local find was actually a friend and food stylist I know Olivia Marjoram. She has her very own hand made oatmeal cookies and sweets. The cookies have a great crunch to them and not too heavy. I could have one with ice-cream or even my morning coffee; yum! You can buy them direct from her site or find a some local shops here: http://olivias-kitchen.com/    
    Miyoko’s Kitchen was a stellar product I came across down stairs. I had a couple booths upstairs raving about it! All the products are vegan but you wouldn’t know it by looking at it. Miyoko Schinner set out to make the best vegan products possible to help that craving of butter and cheese. She had her first success with her book Artisan Vegan Cheese back in 2012. From that point she has produced and sold her product across the country. It was great to have her in NY showing off her amazing products.  http://miyokoskitchen.com/
    Now I did not get to try this product because the line was really long probably because they had an eye-catching booth and packaging. Also a ton of energy from the staff at the booth. Checking out their produce online it really looks like a all in one stop and shop quality hot dog. I really enjoy the packaging and simple approach to the concept. If you did get to try the hot dog I would love to hear about it. If you want to check it out here is where you can purchase it today: https://denshotdogs.com/#@wheretobuy       

Can’t wait till next year; let me know if you will be in attendance and will try to stop by your booth.

Old Bay Steamed Blue Crabs

It’s summer so why not steam some crabs. Old Bay seasoning is the only way to go when making these. Seafood can be intimidating to make but these are actually easy to cook.

Here’s a basic recipe for making steamed crabs:
Add 1 1/2 cups water, lager, apple cider vinegar and 2 tablespoons Old Bay to the bottom of the pot. Whisk to combine and bring to a simmer. Layer the crabs in the steamer insert, generously sprinkling with Old Bay on each layer of crabs. Cover the pot and steam the crabs for 30 minutes.

I also added corn on the cobs cut in half and fingerling potatoes at the top!

Dry Rub Ribs: Recipe

How was your Memorial Day weekend? What type of grilling did you tackle? For us we did a nice dry rub spare rib recipe. Color is always important and using the right amount of paprika really makes a difference. These were also on the spicy side, a nice change up from the usual BBQ sauce rub.

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup turbino sugar
-1/4 cup normal paprika
-1/4 cup smoked paprika
-1 tablespoon salt
-1 tablespoon pepper
-1 tablespoon onion powder
-1 tablespoon garlic powder
-1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
-1/2 teaspoon ground thyme heaping
-1/2 teaspoon ground bay leaves sparingly
-yellow mustard rubbed on base of meat (makes the seasoning stick!)

*Let it soak overnight in fridge

-Baked 300 degrees 3 hours cover in foil
- Uncover and cook an additional 15 minutes

Getting Ready For Fall Seasonal Foods!

Summer and Fall are probably my two favorite times of the year. I really enjoy the summer for the weather and the beach! Fall because the leaves change beautiful colors, there’s pumpkin carving, and I think one of my top seasons for fruits and vegetables! Things I look out for in the Fall are apples, brussels sprouts, and figs! These are so versatile and beautiful I love experimenting with them. This year I plan on doing more savory dishes with apples and figs such as incorporating some cheese. For brussels sprouts I always bake them with cubed slab bacon which is great! However I want to change things up and try some slaw or cold salads with maybe a vinaigrette. Another reason I love this time of year is making soup. It’s cold enough where I can get away with eating soup all day.

Here are some links to get your season started:

http://www.cookinglight.com/food/recipe-finder/brussels-sprouts-recipes

http://www.marthastewart.com/275229/fig-recipes/@center/276955/seasonal-produce-recipe-guide

http://www.southernliving.com/food/holidays-occasions/apple-recipes

Travel Plans: Italy

I've been enjoying the end of the summer and just getting ready for my trip to Italy. My boyfriend (whose is also a commercial photographer: www.josephmkitchen.com) and myself will be leaving first week in September traveling to Venice and Rome! I feel you should really do international travel at least once in your life and while your younger. Traveling through the states I plan on doing when I'm older.

I enjoy traveling because it gives me time to explore new cultures and recharge my creative process. Seeing the world differently where you cannot always get that in your own country. I look forward to hearing new languages and trying to speak them too ;) French and Italian are certainly on my list of languages to learn. I can speak a little of both but nothing fluent... yet!

Stay Inspired!

Memorial Day Weekend Recovery!

What a crazy, jam packed, long, restful weekend I had! We started by seeing the new movie Mad Max which I highly recommend. Also ordering the pretzel bites with cheese (that took me way back). I continued the weekend by cooking with Joe making a huge tray of lasagna for a really fun personal project I’ve been working on. I can’t say anything yet because I’m still working through it and don’t want to spoil any of the fun! Among the BBQ’in, drinking frenzy I managed to make some of my favorite eggplant.

It’s good because it’s so darn easy. For me eggplant is healthy candy. I could eat it all day anyway. If there’s one way though I would cook it for the rest of my life it would be pan seared with breadcrumbs. Just slice the eggplant about 1/2in thick or thinner and let rest on some paper towels for 20min. While the eggplant is resting scramble 1-2 eggs in a bowl and pour italian breadcrumbs in another bowl. Heat a all clad skillet with vegetable oil until it’s hot! Take a fork a dip the slice of eggplant in the egg than into the breadcrumbs till both sides are covered. TIP: You can add an extra step and do flour between the bread crumbs to add extra flavor and crunch. Repeat the step until you fit enough eggplant flat in the pan and cook each side until browned. Remove the slices from the pan and drain on a brown bag. Once they have cooled and the extra oil has seeped out enjoy a crunchy slice of goodness :)

July is National Hot Dog Month, Ice Cream Month...

As well as

• National Blueberry Month
• National Anti-Boredom Month
• Unlucky Month for weddings
• National Cell Phone Courtesy Month

Being 4th of July ; day representing our freedom the most American thing to do is eat hot dogs and ice cream so these things top my list!

Just getting back from a much needed vacation in Kitty Hawk, NC with the family. I certainly had my fair share of hots dogs and ice cream.

Honey and Cinnamon ice cream with Reese's Pieces