Delicious Design
by Carrie Meier
When brainstorming this month’s Food Lover’s Home article, I told my husband I would write a pro-level article about how to stash snacks throughout the house, carefully and intentionally galvanizing them into the decor! He busted out laughing, however slowed as he sensed my seriousness. So, after a lot of thought and house-wide snacking, I shifted. Introducing: “Celebrating Food through Design.”
1. Food reflects family, culture, and tradition. Honor these connections by featuring heritage cookware and dishes. Create a time-honored collage, integrating heirloom dishes and primitive kitchen tools used by those you hold dear. Dig into the archives, adding in a framed family prayer, lyrics to the songs your mom sang, a humble hook to hang your grandmother’s apron, or photographs of those unforgettable gatherings you can still see, smell, and taste by heart. Or sprinkle those items throughout the house. Maybe Grandma’s beloved pickle and olive bowl is tired of being behind glass or at the back of the cupboard between the holidays. Put it on your nightstand and use it as a ring dish, or at your entryway table to catch your keys. By interacting with these items every day, you’ll be honoring those shared family meals, those moments of true joy and connection, while your home aesthetic reaps the benefits!
2. Food is truly art! Showcase a floral arrangement of artichoke hearts, heathery wheat, or ornamental onions. Feature vintage pieces like food ads or tins, classic restaurant memorabilia, or an old school home-economics food poster for a funky pop-art appeal and infusion of color. Recipe cards are some of my favorite things to decorate with; the capture of the author’s handwriting dancing between the splatters and stains of a masterpiece in waiting is a thing of inexplicable beauty.
3. Honor the ingredients and create a soul stimulating indoor herb garden, offering you exponentially more than fresh flavors! A wall mount pallet garden or a symphony of coordinating pots in front of a window is the natural whimsy magazine covers are made of! When it’s time to harvest, the display and process of drying your herbs can also be a very decorative and nostalgic homage to food and home.
If this article wasn’t exactly your “taste”, blame my husband. Then buy a bunch of cute containers and fill them with yummy snacks personalized for each room. Happily (but covertly) free-range graze throughout your day! Remember to direct any/all evidence (especially crumbs in the keyboard … note to self) in an equally cute and coordinated garbage can and you have yourself some seriously delicious design!