Nine Ways to Flavor

I like to catalogue things. There's no getting around it. A project idea that I've held onto for a long time has simply been called "Nine Ways to Sunday".

The internet does not seem to know exactly where the phrase originated, but my creative take on the not often used idiom is to simply explore a single subject, completely... (or at least in nine different and unique ways), whichever comes first.

P.S. Flavor! Spice Blends, are a high-quality collection of artisan spices created by internationally known nutritionist and industry consultant Pamela Smith, RD, LDN.

I have had the privilege of getting to work with Pam over the last few years by photographing just a small number of her live culinary demonstrations and plated food creations using the P.S. Flavor! Spices.

In that time, I have really come to appreciate how the spices fit together as a complimentary group. Other mass-produced, big-box store, non-artisan spice blends attempt to create a flavor profile for all occasions and every different palate. The marketing strategy seemingly being "we make 50 different spice blends... you're bound to like one of them".

One of the things I find so unique about the P.S. Flavor! Blends, is that while they each have bold individual flavor profiles, (and can totally be used on their own as the single spice blend in your dish)... all four of the rubs and five adobo-style seasonings... do also very much belong together. I mean actually used together in the same plate, at different times, in different ways.

I'm not at all qualified to explain how or why, but I have tasted multi-layer magic over the course of two dozen or so dishes, and while I do attribute much of that magic to chef Smith herself, the spice blends are what make the dishes undeniably her own.

I think appreciating collections of things is a byproduct of cataloguing things, which all seems to kismatically fit into the requirements of my Nine Ways to Sunday project. (Yes, I just created a new word, just for this article... "kismatic".)

Unfortunately, I do not have unlimited access to Pam Smith and her culinary skills. I do however, now have my very own box of P.S. Flavor Spice Blends! (Minus one... the popular "Crave Kitchen" is so very popular, it is currently unavailable for my little project... so sad).

"Nine Ways to Sunday, with P.S. Flavor!" ... is the working project title that I'm officially adding to my HCF list, and I could not be more excited to have enough elements in place to start this one!

The whole idea here, is to creatively feature the P.S. Flavor! product ... in nine, different and unique ways. Nine, as it turns out, is a big number when speaking about photography alone... so I'm opening up the scope of this creative project to everything that Digital Food Works is capable of cooking up.

Some of the ideas range from the deceptively simple (but extremely necessary) product shots, to more creative art pieces that really serve no practical marketing purpose. I have a motion idea in the mix, and even an informational application, all featuring P.S. Flavor! ... the product. (Yes, I do think computer application code is creative and beautiful.)

I'll be writing about and displaying each of the nine projects here, so stay please stay tuned. I really don't know how it's all going to turn out... but if it's as fun and successful as I hope, I may just "Nine Ways to Sunday..." more things in the future!