Culture

Photographing Real, Gross, Delicious Food Around the World

Martin Parr’s collection of food snapshots shows off his uncanny ability to mix pleasure and horror.
Tokyo, Japan, 1998.Martin Parr, Magnum/Phaidon

If you’ve seen Instagrams of a friend’s reheated chili, you know food photography is best left to the professionals. But for that nearly impossible mix of pleasure and horror, leave it to Martin Parr.

Parr’s new book, Real Food (Phaidon), shows us the the simplest culinary pleasures found around the world. Documented between 1994 and 2015, Real Food is all about the fried, gooey, colorful, and creamy things, with an occasional fruit and vegetable thrown in.