The phrase “you are what you eat” usually refers to health and weight, but the food in your fridge can say a lot about who you are, what you do, and where you’re from. Photographer Mark Menjivar used this premise in his series You Are What You Eat.
An intense curiosity and questions about stewardship led me to begin to make these unconventional portraits. A refrigerator is both a private and a shared space. One person likened the question, “May I photograph the interior of your fridge?” to asking someone to pose nude for the camera.
Each fridge is photographed “as is”. Nothing added, nothing taken away.
The above is a fridge of a street advertiser in San Antonio, Texas. In contrast, here’s one from a bartender. I think all of those styrofoam boxes are filled with fresh vegetables from the local farmer’s market.
See the full series here. It reminds me of James Mollison’s series on Where Children Sleep. Someone should do the same for garbage bins.
[You Are What You Eat via @periscopic]
I find these sorts of things fascinating. Did you see the snake in the short order cook’s freezer? Would love to know the story behind that one.
@sonya – Hehe I missed that one
How strange that I randomly look through these images and find a couple of fridges from Fort Wayne, IN. That is where I live now. We are not a very popular destination spot, not the biggest of cities with much to offer, so I wonder how he ended up here.
What is that snake doing in the freezer??? http://markmenjivar.com/you-are-what-you-eat/short-order-cook/
It’s interesting that this project got so much press lately, but people have been sending in their own photos of refrigerators to fridgewatcher.com for a pretty long time now.