Sassy Radish

Growing up in Russia, we had access to very few processed foods. For that reason, all foods had to be prepared at home with fresh ingredients. Everything was homemade. We used butter and oil, never once thought about cholesterol and if anyone mentioned “transfat”, one would have asked for the word’s definition.

Perhaps it is for the reasons of freshness, simplicity and all things organic, that I instantly fell in love with Le Pain Quotidien the first time I set food in there. A Belgian chain, scattered all over the world, the eatery turns out simple pastries, soups, salads and sandwiches. Most of the ingredients, including their teas, are organic and there are plenty of vegetarian options, complimented by reasonable prices. Plenty of fresh vegetables and radishes (radishes!) on sandwiches! It’s pure heaven for me.

So when a friend of mine and I made a lunch date at my local Le Pain, I thought it’d be a perfect opportunity to take a few pictures, make a few notes about what I ate, and turn it into a blogging post. Not quite.

Immediately after I sat down and pulled my camera out and put it to the side, a waiter came over.

“That’s a nice camera,” he commented.
“Yes, I quite like it.”

While normally happy to chat, I wanted to get some water and to be left alone so I could finetune the camera for its inside use. It just wasn’t happening.

“I also like photography,” the waiter continued, “I like to take pictures of flowers.”
“Flowers are nice,” I responded.
“So you like to take pictures too?”
”Yes, I do.”
“Me too.”
“Yes.”

And then there was silence. He lingered. I fidgeted with my camera and reached for my cell phone to keep busy.

The waiter wandered off.

Still waterless, I turned to my camera again, this time able to focus it on a spoon to test a few shots.

“So, you like taking pictures of spoons?”

Another waiter was standing by, no water in sight.

“Um, I was just tuning my camera.”
“Sure you were. You like like to photograph spoons.”
“You got me. Yes. Spoons are my passion.”
“I bet you have a whole collection of spoon pictures at home.”
“Naturally, they hang all over my apartment. May I have some water please?”
“Certainly, right away.”

And with that, I diverted attention and pretended to be making phone calls. And still, before my friend showed up, a few other waiters came over to have the I-too-like-photography chat.

And with that I was too annoyed to think about food. I understand chatting with waiters, and I understand being friendly, but sometimes you are just not in the mood to talk. Sometimes you just don’t have that “talkative” body language. And sometimes you just want to be left alone with your camera playing with the settings and functions.

Oh yes, and the food was lovely – mine was a curried chicken salad sandwich with a berry relish and my friend’s was a mozzarella prosciutto one drizzled with pesto. We had tea to finish off the meal and it was delightful. But I was truly derailed in my food focus – and I’m still annoyed by how the waiters were way too familiar and informal. Le Cirque this is not, and need not be. But I simply couldn’t take pictures of our food when half the wait staff were asking me questions about photography, what lenses I used, and what my inspiration was. So you get pictures of spices and a fork, which I took in an act of defiance.

Because sometimes, you just gotta photograph a spoon. Or in my case, a fork.