Magazine of the week: Fuet #2
The new issue of Fuet boldly tackles the theme of ‘Icons’, and design team cordova-canillas have concocted an appropriately iconic cover for the Spanish food magazine’s second issue. Combining everyone’s favourite vegetable with the children’s toy that taught us it’s OK to play with our food, Mr. Aubergine Head features as Fuet’s cover star. The deep, oily purple juxtaposed with the brilliantly contrasting yellow of the background packs a powerful punch, and the confident Fuet logo is pleasingly eye-catching.
Review by Madeleine Morley
In their opening letter, editors Eduardo Garcia Llamas and Maria Arranz explain that for this issue they’re harkening back to the etymological root word of icon, which comes from the Greek eikon meaning image of representation. The subsequent pages explore the history of food imagery: a piece on the nostalgia felt towards old food packaging sits alongside an essay tracing the trajectory of food as pop symbol - from Warhol’s soup cans to Lady Gaga and her meat dress.
Taking heed from the iconic food packaging and pop art designs, the sparse layout of the text combined with clever illustration and photography emphasises the power of the icon as the images speak for themselves. Jose Mendez’s ketchup red illustrations are sizzling (above), too hot and too sweet like the American fast foods discussed in the accompanying piece, and the photography for a history of the Mr. Potato Head is brilliantly absurd (below).
Tweaks in the colour of the page or in the size of the font create subtle changes of flavour throughout: a powdery yellow background, the same yellow of 70s kitchens and retro pickle jars, accompanies a piece about old-fashioned food packaging, and an inverse of black page and white text evokes mystery for a piece about the best kept secrets of the last supper. These subtle changes are like the vinegar on chips or the mayo in a sandwich – small but crucial additions.
Moving into the 21st Century, interviews with SFMoMA’s famed pastry chef Caitlin Freeman and food designer Marti Cuize suggest that today food has become an art-form in itself – it doesn’t need pop artists or colourful packaging to be iconic, it can beautifully designed and innovative on its own terms (above).
Other interesting articles include a gastronomic guide to ‘Twin Peaks’ (above) and an ABC biography of Carmen Miranda told through the fruits in her iconic fruit bowl hat (below). Both pieces create an alterative version of history, one told through culinary facts instead of the well-trodden, conventional storylines.
The imagery and the stories told capture your eye and your imagination. It’s a recipe that suggests that Fuet have a bright future ahead of them: they too could rise to the level of gastronomic greats like The Gourmand or Lucky Peach. Bon appetit.