Food (x) versus Photos (y)

I came to the conclusion a while back that the quality of Chinese food I was eating was quite interestingly correlated with the quality of my project photos.

That is to say, the better Chinese food I was eating at the time, the better my projcet photos were. This relationship is shown below:

You will notice that the relationship is not strictly linear. I believe there are several reasons for this:

1) While the quality of Chinese food can keep going up and up, unfortunately, I don't think I can say the same for my photos yet. I'm trying to be critical of my own photos, after all, how can I expect to get better?
To paraphrase a photographer I admire, "To take good photos isn't hard, to take great photos is very difficult, to take exceptional photos is almost impossible."
Maybe the same can be said for Chinese food, but I must have lower standards. Yum.

2) With a small increase in the quality of food I eat, I get great returns on my photos. After a while, I begin to reach my asymptotic line. Sorry large banquets, I'm getting diminishing returns on your delicious food. In fact, when great Chinese food is served, the quality of project photos might even go down as it is usually in a formalized setting with poor light and too many people too nervous to act natural.

So why is there this relationship?

1) I think most kinds of good documentary photography rely on access. If you can get good access to things, your photos will improve immeasurably. Perhaps my project has strayed from street photography in Peru toward documentary photography in Paraguay and Brazil, back to street photography in Italy. This is largely because of my difficulties with access in both Peru and Italy.

2) In general, most Chinese immigrant communities are relatively insular groups that aren't welcoming of outsiders. If they don't invite you to eat delicious food, you won't be snapping away happily. If you are a welcome presence, you will be offered food and you will eat it. This has proved all too true in six months of project.
2a) As a sidenote, I find it interesting when food gets in the way of photography. Sometimes I'm enjoying a delicious crab (I LOVE CRAB), my hands are all dirty, and I see a good photo pass before my eyes. Shouldn't have been slacking off!

Notes:
a. This only applies to Chinese food
b. This is a preliminary study, results may change with more data points

Food in Lima

Food in Lima has been great. I was expecting to cook a lot more, but with such delicious and relatively inexpensive food everywhere, I've been eating out quite often. I often eat Chifa, Peruvian-Chinese food, in Chinatown or elsewhere. Someone quoted that there were approximately 4,000 Chifas in all of Lima, quite a large amount, even taking into account Lima's size (estimated population of 8 million, about a third of Peru's total population!).

Limenos (Lima residents), it appears, are carnivores, and it's difficult to order dishes that feature vegetables and not meat. Most of the Chifa menu items are quite meaty, which can get overwhelming at times. Because I'm a cheapskate and because I normally eat by myself, I order off the "El Menu," which is basically a set-price, 2 or 3 course meal. Chifas usually have a "sopa wanton" and a main dish, such as "pollo tamarindo," chicken in tamarind sauce, and maybe a small desert or drink if you get the "menu ejecutivo." This all costs about 6-9 soles, or about 2-3 dollars.

I've also been able to get a good variety of Chinese vegetables in a sidestreet market in the Chinatown here. They even have kongxincai (literally translated as "open-heart vegetable... the stalks are hollow), my favorite Chinese vegetable. I bought some homemade tofu today as well, and it was quite delicious.

When people ask me what I eat here, the other thing I usually mention besides chifa is ceviche-- raw seafood-- which is famous in Peru. The fish ceviche is the classic dish and my favorite, although the conchas negras (black clam) ceviche is also delicious. Its normally served dunked in lime juice and with red onions, as well as corn and sweet potato on the side. All told, I'm quite happy with the food here!