Ready for their close-ups

Food on television seldom looks the same as food in real life. It looks better actually. For this, we have stylists, tabletop directors and special-effects riggers to thank.

The business section of The New York Times provides insight on people in the ad world "hired to turn the most mundane and fattening staples of the American diet into luscious objects of irresistible beauty."

From director Michael Somoroff, for instance:

"I make my living basically taking food and painting a reality with it... And if I succeed in a given moment, you're going to go buy that dish because you're going to identify with the experience we've created.

"To do that with something as banal as food is the challenge. I mean, it's easy to go out and shoot a beautiful sunset or a beautiful girl. They're beautiful, O.K.? I've got a noodle over here."