Refrigerators are as individual as fingerprints. More than the clothes we wear or the cars that we drive, the food in our refrigerators speaks of income and education, age and health, religion and ethnicity, even where we like to go on vacation. Refrigerators can be treasure troves of exotica or wastelands of deprivation. They can speak of careful planning or organized chaos. They can remind us that we are overscheduled or underpaid. And sometimes they just scream Take out the trash!
The magnets we stick on the door, the stash of Girl Scout cookies, the science project growing in the back of the produce bin; refrigerators combine public display, private pleasures, and dirty secrets. It’s that combination that tempts us to peep.
Photographer Mark Menjvar elevates peeping to an art form with You Are What You Eat. Menjvar examined the refrigerator contents of individuals throughout the United States, a group he describes as…the rich and the poor. Vegetarians, Republicans, members of the NRA, those left out, the under appreciated, former soldiers in Hitler’s SS, dreamers, and so much more. The portraits that resulted from this exploration create a dialogue about consumption and stewardship as they reveal the varied issues and lifestyles within our culture
cool food storiesthin stone hamilton
