Photo: Courtesy of Brian Samuels

It’s hard to say which keeps me coming back to Brian Samuels’ blog A Thought for Food: the food, or the photos? It’s a legitimate question to ask, as Brian’s passion for both are apparent in every post.

A Thought for Food began in 2009 as a way for Brian to share his favorite recipes with family and friends and to communicate his love of food and the role it plays in his life. In turn, by putting his musings out in the open, Brian wanted to generate a discussion amongst his readers on the impact of food on them as well.

But the site has evolved considerably since its earliest days. Brian now has a readership that extends beyond his inner circle and a new project. A resident of Boston, Brian had never been much of a food photog before the blog’s inception. In fact, he didn’t put a whole lot of effort into his earliest clicks for A Thought for Food (his words, not mine). But, with a background in documentary film production and photography, Brian’s artistic instincts kicked in, and he quickly realized there was something beautiful about the ingredients he was using and about the process of cooking as a whole. He says his “goal with these photographs is to present food how it truly is,” and he does his best not to stylize or jazz it up too much.

Brian actually lets the pictures guide the post: before writing, he photographs the ingredients in their most raw state and throughout each stage of cooking until they’re plated. All these photo shoots in the kitchen led to the creation of Brian’s Flickr account and Brian Samuels Photography, a fledgling project that will no doubt lead to bigger things.

Photo: Courtesy of A Thought for Food

By sticking to the basics and capturing food in its most unadulterated form, his pictures are transcending.

Take some of Brian’s most recent winter posts featuring summer recipes–e.g., coleslaw, pickled beet salad and lobster rolls. Slaw? Lobster rolls? In February?! Despite the cold weather (well, because of the cold weather) he took a deliberate break from the starchy, heavy foods that can weigh you down in winter and instead used ingredients evocative of sun and sand.

Staying true to the origins of A Thought for Food, Brian’s premature foray into summer dining shows how food can indeed affect mood: I left that image of a good ol’ New England lobster roll with a smile on my face.