NEW LIFE:Chef Dianne Curtin moved from being a food stylist in London to being a food lover in west Cork
WHEN DIANNE Curtin abandoned a metropolitan lifestyle and demanding career as a food stylist in London to live on a remote west Cork hill, she could never have envisaged what lay ahead.
If you’d told her that within a few years she’d write a book, work with national organisations to promote Irish food tourism, launch a food awards scheme and help establish a thriving local farmers’ market, she would have laughed.
The Sheffield-born chef, who had previously worked at Fortnum & Mason and one of the capital's top hotels, had carved out a career as a food stylist in London, organising food-shoots for publications such as Hello! magazine and other high-profile corporate clients.
One day she could be organising a dinner party scene with Elspeth Howe, wife of Lord Geoffrey Howe, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, the next a barbecue shoot with TV personality Chris Tarrant.
“It was a high-profile job, which could be quite demanding,” she says.
On any given Monday, Curtin might re-create a suburban garden into a Midsummer Night’s Dream fairy grotto for a summer lifestyle shot.
Tuesday could see her styling a food-shoot with the cast of Coronation Streetor setting up a beach picnic with a gaggle of high-maintenance models. On Wednesday the mother of two could spend hours dressing an empty set for a cosy Christmas scene complete with roast turkey and fairy lights – in July.
She also worked for the TV Times, and for public relations companies representing food clients like Colman's Mustard and Torres Wines.
"It was all fairly mad. We were really busy. We'd have a shoot every week for Hello!magazine, and there'd be location shoots for other jobs as we worked for a number of high profile clients.
“We also had to devise recipes for the foods they wanted to promote. It was a very enjoyable job, but very pressurised. At the same time I had two young children so there was a lot of juggling in order to keep the family show on the road.”
The skill of a good food stylist, explains Curtin, lies in knowing exactly how food behaves under photographic lighting and how long it will “sit” for the cameras before it begins to look dull.
“It was quite a surreal occupation, very far removed from real cooking or real life. The food had to look perfect and there are a lot of tricks – you could make ice-cream out of mashed potato so it wouldn’t melt, or you’d paint chicken with gravy browning to give it a golden roasted look or ice a round cardboard box to look like a beautiful cake.
“I didn’t use those tricks, because I always felt what we made had to be real – in fact we often ate it ourselves later on because we never messed it about or daubed it with stuff.
“Food styling is all about the appearance of food and it doesn’t necessarily matter what it tastes like. It just has to look absolutely superlative.”
Life changed dramatically in 2002 when Curtin’s husband found a job in Cork: “My father-in-law came from west Cork and this was always our holiday destination. We’d always wanted to move here one day and live the country dream.
“It was a huge change from north London where we lived a very urban, metropolitan lifestyle in a terrace of houses with hundreds of neighbours of all nationalities.
“We moved to the top of a hill in west Cork, and the nearest neighbour was a mile down the road. Being thrust deep into the heart of rural Ireland was a sensational change from living on a busy street with Greeks, and Turks and Asian families.
“Suddenly I began to notice the seasons and seeing things like the silage being cut and the cows being brought in for the winter.”
Soon after arriving she started to write a food column for a local magazine.
“I started to get to know local food producers like Edward Twomey, the Clonakilty Black Pudding king.
“I got to know the various artisan producers by visiting food fairs and so on – my first introduction to Slow Food was at a food weekend in Rosscarbery, the year after I arrived.
“I met Anthony Cresswell of Ummera Smokehouse in Timoleague, Sally Barnes of Woodcock Smokery in Castletownshend and Giana Ferguson of Gubbeen.
“I didn’t realise at first just how much the west Cork region was immersed in food culture – but it’s the flagship region for artisan food production in this country.”
Over the next few years Curtin started to write for other papers and magazines, was offered a broadcasting slot on the local radio station and, by 2004, had started to research her first book, Creators; Individuals of Irish Food, which tells the stories of well-known Cork food producers.
She quickly became involved in establishing a farmers’ market in the nearby town of Bandon, where she now lives. Launched as a monthly event in April 2006, it’s now a thriving weekly market, drawing customers and stall-holders from all over the region.
The following year she became leader of the west Cork Slow Food Convivium, while Creatorswas published.
A visit to the west Cork island of Sherkin, and the reminiscences of a local resident about how strong the local fishing industry used to be, inspired her to found the inaugural Eat Sherkin! Weekend on the tiny island in July 2008.
“It was a great weekend, with demonstrations on sustainability, self-sufficiency and traditional island skills – and it was a huge success.
“We had several workshops and I’m currently planning this year’s event, which takes place in August,” says Curtin who is now writing her second book, and working with Fáilte Ireland to map out tourism food trails in the Cork region.
She also works with Good Food Ireland on a national scale, promoting establishments which use local produce, and highlighting the best local producers.
Her latest venture is a new award scheme for amateur cooks, the Grow Bake Cook Award: “I’m working with two other dedicated food lovers, Elke O’Mahony and Simone Kelly, to unearth some hidden food heroes.
“The award has the backing of Teagasc, who are providing a mentoring prize for the winner, and the support of Fáilte Ireland.”
This is all a long way from her food styling days. “Food styling is quite a superficial activity, really, you’re just painting pretty pictures with food.
“In west Cork I began to think in terms of how food got to the plate rather than how it looked – a seismic shift in mindset for me and a return to my cooking roots.”