Hungart Pangs

You don’t have to look far to see how divided the world is right now. Republicans and Democrats, stay homers and go outters, bat advocates and bat haters, Team Carol Baskin and Team Joe Exotic… the list goes on. I feel there is one thing Americans have in common right now and that is food. 

Whether we are worried about it, swimming in a fridge full of it, or looking forward to the next time we can consume it (me), we are all thinking about it every day. I don’t think any of us realized how much our kids eat until we were put on lockdown. I’ve never cooked so much in my whole life. The novelty is starting to wear off.

Today’s post is in honor of the food which we are all consuming for lack of anything else to do. Pop artists seem quite obsessed with incorporating food into their art. Take Andy Warhol and his obsession with Campbell’s tomato soup. I’m not sure if he kicked off the pop artists’ love of food-centric art, but he sure did popularize it. There’s Mona Lisa made from peanut butter and jelly (Vik Muniz), an egg on toast (Tjalf Sparnaay), the “Annie” logo in maple syrup (Ed Ruscha), to name a few pieces of perishable pop art.

But none of those are my style. I appreciate them, but not the way I appreciate Giuseppe Arcimboldo. I know I’ve featured his art on this blog before, but it bears a repeat:

I think all his work is so progressive, but this one is especially fun. It’s a fruit bowl AND a face! I bet Arcimboldo was a fun guy at a party.

I love this painting by Lily Martin Spencer too. 

Kiss Me and You'll Kiss the 'Lasses. The title is as playful as her smile!

The girl looks so flirtatious, and I feel in 1856 there wasn’t a ton of that in art. She clearly has a better attitude than I do about cooking. Maybe she’s just on Day 1 of her quarantine. I think this painting of Spencer’s is more representative of how I look in the kitchen.

I would have called this, I Already Fed You Today!

Cook on, dear readers! May your bellies be full, your pantries have a wide array of snacks, and your refrigerators stuffed with ingredients for meals your family swoons over.