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Food on screen isn’t just about making things look delicious – it’s about storytelling, passion, and creating visuals that remind us that food is one of the most direct ways to engage one’s emotion. Infused with ritual, from holiday table spreads to simple snack time, food is one of the integral parts of the human experience.

At all of Us here, a powerhouse of visual talent, food has become a central character, not just an object in the frame. With a diverse lineup of directors – Pleix, Alberto Arellano, Niels La Croix, Rob Fiocca, Marie Constantinesco, and FoodFilm – who have mastered the nuances of gastronomy on film, their work goes beyond the predictable drips and slow-motion pours to bring food to life in new, creative ways.

From childhood memories of melting chocolate, to cinematic explorations of food as an extension of thought and emotion, their perspectives reveal just how much craft, precision, and imagination go into making that perfect, mouthwatering shot. Whether it’s lighting that mimics the golden hour on a perfectly seared steak, camera moves that make butter look even better than it tastes, or the search for the fresh visual language in an oversaturated food content world – this is a deep dive into the art and magic of food on film.

��������> What do you love most about working with food, and what drew you to it? What’s the biggest challenge about it?

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Pleix> Food wasn’t our original focus – our early work revolved around cars and cell phones. But one ad from childhood stuck with us: a Nestlé commercial featuring a pear draped in melted chocolate. That moment proved food could be just as visually striking and emotionally powerful as any high-tech subject.

From our first food project, we approached it like a choreographed dance – solving creative and logistical puzzles to bring each frame to life. The magic of food lies in its textures, colours, and fleeting nature, making every shot a multi-sensory experience.

The challenge? Its delicacy. Food wilts, melts, and shifts, demanding perfect timing, precision, and collaboration with specialists to capture its best moment. But that constant unpredictability keeps us on our toes and fuels our creativity.

Alberto> Food is a vehicle that connects with the emotions and senses in a very direct way. Like an actor with many faces, it is capable of being shaped according to the message. It adapts to the storytelling and audiovisual techniques used, so it’s a pretty elastic element both visually and aesthetically for me. There really are many layers to an onion, and that’s something that I love.

I'm passionate about gastronomy and food products themselves. I think it partly comes from my roots in Navarra, a region in northern Spain where food is woven into daily life. When I started my first projects in the food industry, it was a mix of that passion for food and the need to communicate certain products or stories in a different way – bringing a fresh visual approach to what was already out there. And then, BOOM!

In a straightforward way, I’d say that landing new jobs is always a challenge, especially with the bidding and pitching process, creating treatments, and all the hurdles you have to jump through to secure the work. In a more emotional sense, I’d say it’s always a challenge to find the right storytelling that adds value and elevates both the brief and the campaign.

Niels> What I love most about working with food is that it’s pure emotion. It’s nostalgia, comfort, desire – all in a single frame. But what really drives me is the challenge of making it feel alive, especially when combining it with live action.

I don’t just want to make food look beautiful; I want it to feel like a character – part of the story. That’s why I’m always looking for original POVs and techniques that haven’t been done before. Whether it’s capturing the world from the perspective of a melting pat of butter or creating a camera move that makes you taste the crunch, I want every shot to be more than just eye candy.

Rob> Food has always been a focal part of my life. Growing up Italian-Canadian, eating traditional foods that were always so tasty, enabled a very inclusive and fulfilling family life centred around food.

Starting my career as a photographer, food wasn’t the main focus – instead it was all things fashion, designer, cosmetics, jewelry, etc. Years later, I was asked to take my style and photograph food in the same vein. That was that; I was hooked, and a whole new world had opened up. After a successful career shooting food photography, I was once again asked by the motion world to direct food with my style. That led to the last 15 years of an extremely fulfilling directing career in food.

I would say the most challenging part of food is continuing to reinvent different ways to make it look delicious.

Foodfilm> Working with food is, above all, the chance to work with incredibly diverse materials – shapes, colours, and textures that are always surprising. When you take the time to closely observe these elements, you discover a rich and fascinating world. The way we look at these details is an essential part of our work.

We started working together in food quite early on, but I imagine that what led each of us to this field was partly chance and partly the sense of freedom that comes with creating culinary imagery. The most exciting, yet also the most challenging part, is constantly finding new ways to showcase things we’ve all seen dozens of times before. Playing with food in unexpected ways is our daily pursuit.

We have created many playful images by repurposing food items in unconventional ways. Playfulness is a great source of creativity. But this should never come at the expense of image quality.

Food can also sometimes be viewed as a landscape. This is an approach we have often explored in our projects, like in certain shots from the film we created for Cathay Pacific, for example. With M&S, we were also fortunate to create highly creative and playful films.

But perhaps the most exciting project is the one we have yet to create.

Marie> To me, food is associated with feelings, stories and sensory sensations. The act of cooking and eating resonates with something primal which makes people connect to food intuitively.

Food also resonates with strong family memories – my Romanian grandmother’s recipe collection stems from Transylvania, Hungary, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, and echoes her journey as a refugee across Europe post World War II. Food is also my favourite way to discover a city – whenever I travel, whether it’s Rome or Budapest, finding an outdoor farmers market is always my first stop to experience a different culture.

What ultimately drew me to working with food was this idea of bringing together my passion for cooking, art directing and filmmaking. I like to bring suspense, excitement, comedy, or beauty to a dish and a frame. My narrative short films all include a food scene: two characters kneading dough together, a family preparing a dish of Romanian sarmale (stuffed vine leaves), or a woman falling in love with her sourdough starter because she finds men utterly disappointing. In my commercial work, I aim to achieve that delicate balance between focusing on ingredients and textures while eliciting emotions.

��������> How do you break the mold in food content and subvert expectations?

Pleix> We love pushing food beyond the ordinary. Instead of relying on static, predictable shots, we treat every scene as a playground – experimenting with movement, lighting, and perspective to bring ingredients to life.

Whether it's a playful twist, a surprising reveal, or a jaw-dropping visual moment, we always try to find fresh ways to animate food. A simple touch of motion can transform even the most basic ingredient into something magical.

We collaborate with culinary experts and inventive engineers to make food behave in ways that captivate the senses – like turning chocolate sauce into a mesmerising, multi-layered twirl, for example.

Alberto> One way or another, molds eventually break, even if it's just due to the passage of time and usage. But I’d say it starts with a mix of brave clients and the synergy among everyone involved in the production process. I believe that having a bold, shared approach among advertising agencies, creatives, producers, directors, and department heads is key. This mindset should be reflected in the decisions each person makes in their specific area, pushing towards innovation and embracing the difference.

Niels> Food content has indeed become predictable: slow-motion drips, crispy cuts. It looks great, but it’s been done. To break the mold, you have to make food feel alive – not just look good. It’s about blending live action with food in a way that surprises and adds depth to the story. Humour can be important when it enhances the moment, turning food into a character that interacts with the action in unexpected ways. I love using quirky perspectives or moments that make people pause, smile, or think. Whether it’s a surprising twist or something more emotional, the goal is always the same: to create something that makes the audience feel and connect with the story in a whole new way.

Rob> Honestly, be true to yourself. Follow your creative path. That’s truly when you do your best work. As Denis Villeneuve, the famed Canadian director, said in an interview, “It’s time to dream.” Keep pushing, so your thoughts become reality. That in itself will set you apart.

Marie> In a world where food content is inundating our screens, and where quantity has become more important than quality, there is a given that food content is about constantly delivering the same look. I think staying true to your vision means challenging these expectations of repetition and trends, and allowing your craft to evolve depending on each individual project while staying true to what makes your style unique.

One of the things that I love to focus on is lighting, whether it’s embracing shadows, or not being afraid of hard light. I like lighting food in a way that doesn’t feel too artificial or overly styled, but effortlessly beautiful, even when you least expect it. Crossing into unexpected territories to break away from conventions is a great way to renew your style. I love the idea of being a food director and shooting a fashion or a cosmetics campaign. The opportunity to tackle a different genre with fresh eyes and new ideas would be very exciting.

  ��������> Tell me a bit about your favourite project involving food and what made it so special for you.

Pleix> We don’t play favourites – every project is a fresh adventure, packed with excitement and technical twists. With a background in post-production, we first imagine wild ways to make food move using CG software, then tackle the challenge of bringing those ideas to life with custom-designed rigs.

Sometimes, reality has its own rules – gravity isn’t always on our side, and certain shots need a touch of invisible post-production magic to truly shine. But we always aim to shoot food for real to keep that mouthwatering, can’t-look-away appeal. Watching a spinning knife slice through a beetroot mid air or a flying pan ignite as it catches a perfectly timed steak never gets old. And when a rig surprises us or makes us smile? That’s the ultimate win!

Alberto> In general, I always tend to include food, gastronomic rituals and culinary culture in my personal projects. It seems like I might be a bit obsessed with it... (I'll have to think seriously about that!). One of my special projects was the short film I wrote and directed, ‘Mental Soiree: A Manual for a Successful Case of Telepathy’. In it, I aimed to create unique atmospheres with evocative art direction and scenographies, all within a captivating film tempo. The camera movements that accompany this dreamlike world tied to food were really special. I invite you to check it out – it's free and not too long!

Niels> Oof, that’s a tough one. I think some of my best projects have been KFC, BeSupreme, Hofer, Ostankino, and Kaufland. What makes them special is how I challenged the agency and client to turn the project into something original, while still ticking all the boxes of the brief. They all have a story, whether it’s big or small, and were executed in a way that felt completely custom fit. There’s always that balance between staying true to the brand and finding something fresh and unexpected, and those projects really captured that for me.

Rob> One of my favourite projects was a series of commercials for Schneiders, a bacon and meat company. We were tasked with creating a smokehouse, showcasing sides of bacon, hanging sausages, etc. We created an environment with extravagant lighting through windows, atmosphere-filled rooms, cinematic filming, and my favourite food – meat.

Marie> One of my most rewarding projects so far was a commercial I directed for M&S. The brand has always been a reference for me, from when I studied in the UK, so directing a film for this client was a dream come true. It was a very collaborative experience with an agency (Grey) which gave me a lot of freedom in terms of shot directions and styling, as well as a complete trust in my vision.

Using high-speed shots, as well as a textured sound design, the film we created tells the journey of raw ingredients (fresh bell peppers, heirloom tomatoes) as they turn into two classic M&S dishes. Golden flames and red embers serve to break the abstract darkness of a working kitchen, subtly aged props infuse personality to the scenes, and the editing pace builds a sense of suspense, offering viewers a glimpse into culinary magic.

Another one of my favourite projects so far was a commercial I shot for Norr Skyr, a brand of Icelandic yogurt. Shooting the yogurt in the making, which echoed some of Iceland’s stunning raw nature, was really exciting as we travelled to Iceland to capture some of these shots. The final film feels very poetic, like we are slowing down time, as each spoonful brings back memories and feelings of a place.