The Food Stylist’s Handbook

Acclaimed food stylist Denise Vivaldo shares the tips and secrets of the trade with cooks who want to become master stylists. It takes a steady hand to arrange the chocolate curls and drizzle the caramel sauce in elaborate designs on top of that sumptuous tiered cake. Whether for food blogs, television, books, magazines, movies, menus, or advertising, food stylists and photographers learn to slice, plate, tweak, and arrange so the dish becomes less a bit a food and more the work of an artisan.

Denise Vivaldo has been a food stylist in Los Angeles for twenty-five years. Originally a professionally trained chef catering in Hollywood, Vivaldo was discovered by Aaron Spelling and put to work on his television shows building food presentations for the camera. Her company, Food Fanatics, styles food for cookbooks, packaging, television, and film. The Food Stylist’s Handbook is her sixth book.