The New Party Food Aesthetic Is Scarcity
When did sparsely arranged eggs become so cool?
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In the last six months, while working on an upcoming book about party foods, I started to notice a new trend swinging into view, especially in glimpses here and there of art and fashion-focused parties. Let me paint the scene: A bare, monolithic stainless steel table floats in the center of a large room. On the table? Not enough food for even one person. It’s broken into small, architectural bites, stationed very far apart from one another.
A designer or artist might describe this type of styling as “playing with negative space,” but in the context of an array of food meant for guests, the effect is one of scarcity more than anything else. Will there be enough food for everyone here? Probably not. If you take even one bite away from the display, will everyone notice the gaping hole left behind? Yes. Is any of this even edible? Not sure.
