I'm typically too busy crying to stop and appreciate just how pretty an onion is. This amazing photo by The Barefoot Kitchen Witch makes the onion looks like a piece of crystal in a museum, the rings of a tree trunk, or a sky at sunset. Don't stop with this photo, though. To complete your onion appreciation class, be sure to view The Barefoot Kitchen Witch's other onion photos as well. Each is equally stunning and features different angles of this familiar food.

Next time I cut up an onion, I'm going to hold it under the light and take a closer look.

What does this onion look like to you? Have you stopped before to appreciate the onion's attractiveness?

We get our daily dose of food porn with Marisa's Food Porn Daily, but still I have to point out the photography of Rick Lee, a photographer out of Charleston, West Virginia. Rick has a blog where he showcases his photography, and because every Thursday is grocery night, there's an entire section dedicated to produce. When Rick goes, he takes incredible photos around the produce section, making basic things like corn and cabbage look positively sex-ay.

Who knew a picture of an onion could make you almost cry?

A few days ago I told you about the 2008 Boston International Seafood Show that is going on from 2/24-26, 2008. I went down to the show yesterday and spent six hours tasting my way around the exhibits. I don't think I have ever eaten so much raw fish before in one day, no make that one month, as I did yesterday. If I don't see fish again for awhile it will suit me just fine, although I always have a hankering for shrimp, lobster, scallops, and clams.

Here's just a quick glimpse of the 2008 Boston International Seafood Show in twenty photos.

Google is known for providing their employees with lots of perks, including good food for lunch. The Google cafeteria is quite well known at this point, offering everything from childhood favorites to top quality gourmet entrees. It is safe to say that prepacked sandwiches on either stale or slightly mushy bread will never make their way into the mouths of Google employees during lunch time.

If you're curious as to what exactly the Google employees are eating on their breaks, take a look over at the Google Food Photo Blog, a collection of snapshots that chronicle the continually impressive eats at the tech company. Breakfast or dessert might be house-made yogurt and house-made granola, while lunch could be anything from Baby Bok Choi Sandwiches with mushrooms and a baby beet salad to kebabs and naan with mango lassi.

You might not want to check it out before your own lunch break, though, just in case you decide that suddenly your own lunch looks a lot less impressive.

[via growabrain]

It's hard to tell how many calories something has just by looking at it. We already know what an ounce of nuts looks like - but what do servings of other common foods look like? Wisegeek took pictures of 200 calories portions of 71 common food items, including everything from staples like flour, cornmeal, oil and butter to muffins, ketchup, bacon, Powerbars and Tootsie Pops. They every carefully cut down the items that were more than 200 calories per piece to provide the most accurate visual example possible. Measurements are given in grams or milliliters, as well as calories. And as an additional bonus, every item was shot on the same plate, bowl or glass, so the size of each item can easily be compared to its neighboring items.

Now, calories aren't the only thing to take into consideration when planning your diet, but it is still nice to see that one glazed donut doesn't have quite as many calories as a bakery muffin or a bagel because it makes it that much easier to enjoy every once in a while.

The prevailing food trends that say you should know exactly what you're eating and where it came from. This is generally accepted to mean that you should buy eggs are from free range chickens and beef from grass-fed, hormone-free cows. Whole Foods is reinterpreting that to mean that you should know the farmers who are responsible for producing the eggs, beef and produce that you are purchasing. They're introducing their customers to their producers by putting up pictures of the farmers in stores, which makes the shopping experience sort of like seeing the vendors at a farmer's market without having to interact with them in any way. The idea is not to make the farmers into celebrities, but to make sure that the customers know that they are buying locally and supporting these people by shopping at Whole Foods, not just supporting the store.

Whole Foods is supporting the farmers because it is driving their business, not just because they believe in the cause, but whatever the reason, the movement for buying locally is making a change for small farmers. Some report that nearly all of their products are now sold locally, whether through a venue like Whole Foods or direct to consumers, and that the increased interest in local foods and the willingness of consumers to pay slightly higher prices for them are, in many cases, saving these farms.

There are many food bloggers out there who take stunning, professional-quality photographs of food for their websites. There are an equal number who seem to suffer a bit from poor lighting and blurry images, though. Photographers will get better with practice, but it helps to have a good eye for composition and the ability to hold the camera steady when you're trying to take pictures - especially ones of food, which tend to be from close up and trying to capture a lot of detail. It's safe to say that there are three major elements that will really help anyone looking to improve their photography: a quality camera, good lighting and a tripod or stand,

You're on your own for the camera, but the Photo Studio in a Box offers the other two in a neat little package. It includes an adjustable camera stand, soft light box and backgrounds, two high output table-top lights (to eliminate unflattering shadows and highlight the details of your subject) and a nylon diffuser screen. It also comes with a custom carrier so you can use the studio when traveling, although restaurants probably won't be thrilled if you try to set it up on the table.

After a whole day of preparation, baking, cooking and waiting, the meal of the year finally came together. There was a brief struggle as I snagged the turkey platter for photographs before the bird could be carved, but that aside, everything went smoothly. The soup was light and refreshing, the side dishes - which included roasted green beans with caramelized onions, garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing (baked both in and outside of the bird) and cranberry sauce - were all extremely well liked, and the turkey and gravy were just right. Of course, I was a big fan of the dessert - but that almost goes without saying.

Click past the jump for pictures of the whole meal!

We always try to cover the Does My Blog Look Good in This? photo competition, where food bloggers enter their best food photos from the previous month. This month's round was hosted by Food Beam, a blog that is itself known for lovely photography. The "best in show" photo was of the Blackberry Semifreddo Sandwiches pictured above, from the blog Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once. The semifreddo is an ice cream-like mixture of blackberries, sugar and yogurt, with some whipped cream folded in, that is frozen and generally served by the slice, rather than in scoops. It makes a very elegant, but refreshing, summer dessert if you have a chance to try the recipe.

Be sure to check out all the winners, as there are multiple categories, including Originality, Best Food Styling, Best Lighting and Cutest. Hopefully, you'll be inspired to pick out your best food porn shot to enter in the next round of the competition, which is being hosted by Toast Point.

All the Chicago beef and hot dog fans out there should appreciate this one. GreaseFreak.com is a photographic survey of meaty Chicago fare like beef sandwiches, hot dogs, chili, Italian subs, burgers and (shrug) turkey clubs. While the site's host, Peter Strazzabosco, claims to not be a fast food expert, he does a good job of outlining the qualities one should look for in aforementioned foods. He also rates each of his "intimate shots of greasy edibles" with stars for taste, presentation and ambiance. As you might imagine, the list of hot dog places is quite extensive.

After I found the cooking with your car engine photo-tutorial on Instructables, I did a little more browsing around and found something even more, um, impressive. Yes, this is a recirculating fountain brimming with "a gushing torrent of delicious, piping hot gravy." Roughly 10 gallons of it. What's more, the fountain uses peristaltic action to move the gravy, just like us. Yep, a series of moving rollers pushed that gravy from a stockpot in the base, through a rubber hose and up to a tasteful silver bowl. There's even a video clip of the fountain in action. It's surprisingly loud. Gravy and plywood: always a winning combination.

Bread pudding is almost a souffle for cheaters. Because of the eggs in it, it puffs up a bit in the oven, but the bread gives it enough structure that it never falls. The bread also keeps the custard component of the pudding from cracking or facing any of the other flaws that can strike a cooked custard. What this all boils down to is the fact that bread puddings are incredibly easy and will taste great almost without regard for what you do to them. How can you argue with that?

For this bread pudding, I started with the basic recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, which is a great source for basic recipes. I changed it by adding dried cherries and using challah bread for added richness. I topped it off with a delicious dessert sauce. The final dish is homey, comforting and very delicious. It can be put together very quickly and served either warm or cold, so it is just as good for entertaining as it is for quiet nights at home.

The blog A Veggie Venture was founded on the principle that a vegetable could be eaten in a different way each day of the year. Actually, it started as a month long project and got stretched out due to its own success. It is written by Alanna Kellogg, a food writer who authors the popular Kitchen Parade newspaper column, which was started almost 50 years ago by her mother, as well as writing the Kitchen Parade food blog. This week marked the 365th post in on A Veggie Venture, meaning that Alanna was successful in her goal. Not only did she prepare a vegetable in a new way every day by including them in everything from soups to pancakes, but she provided a great source of veggie recipes. The carrot cookies pictured here are the 365th recipe. Here's to another year of veggie ventures!

Fritattas could very well be the most popular brunch food there is. Not only are they relatively easy to prepare, but they are very versatile. You can put almost any combination of meats, cheeses or vegetables into the egg base and turn out a fantastic dish. Fritattas can also be served hot, cold and at room temperature, so they fit easily into party preparation and, when it comes time to serve them, they can be cut into bite sized pieces or meal-worthy wedges. The problem is that many recipes call for both stove-top and oven cooking or specialty cookware. This is not the case with this recipe.

This particular fritatta recipe is one of my favorites. Not only is it simple, but it eliminates any confusion over what sort of pan is best for cooking. The whole thing is poured into a 9x13 Pyrex baking dish and cooked in the oven. The large, finished fritatta can be sliced easily to fit any occasion. And the flavor? With a spinach and feta filling, it tastes just like spanikopita: delicious.

It makes sense, right? I'm a food writer, and I spend an inordinate amount of time at my local Trader Joe's - it's only a few blocks away and, when my kids are restless or I just need one final ingredient for my dinner, I'll run over there with the boys in the stroller. I have my camera with me everywhere I go, and I've been known to snap a photo or two.

It hadn't occurred to me to be secretive until the whole dust-up over DC Foodie's camera phone pictures of his meal, but I suppose I have been. Because on Wednesday I was shopping for ingredients for the gardiane (neither Trader Joe's nor New Seasons had beef stew meat, btw), and as usual I had my camera. I decided to take a few photos of the organic cereal, thinking how much I could have used that as an illustration for my post. I continued snapping a few photos here and there, and pulled out my camera at the checkstand. The checker looked panicked.