Guest Post| Kitchen M

{Today’s Guest Post is an interview with Emiko, the talented chef and food photographer behind Kitchen M. We asked Emiko to share her story of getting Kitchen M started, and her advice for people wanting to do the same. Plus, her recommendations for a great recipe!}

1. How did Kitchen M get it’s start?
I went to college in small-town Kansas where ethnic food mostly meant Chinese buffet and Tex-mex. One summer, I got accepted to an internship at UC Berkeley. It was my first time visiting the Bay Area and I was just amazed by beautiful foods and culinary art. I was eating out all the time in the three months, yet I felt like I had not explored all the great restaurants. I was so fascinated that I started taking pictures of food that I was eating. By the time the internship was over, I had 3-4 CDs, about 80% filled with food photos. So after I returned to Kansas, I started a food blog to share my dinner experience with family and friends.

2. Tell us a bit about Kitchen M and what you do.
I actually had no intention of making Kitchen M into what is it now, either a hodge-podge of my culinary adventures or a gallery of healthy takes on traditional recipes. I was simply enjoying taking pictures of food and blogging about it. But a couple years later, I encountered another internship opportunity which was a three-day food styling and photography workshop. It was one of the best and fun experiences I’ve ever had besides working at Walt Disney World. It really changed my view of food photography. My first published work was through a friend of mine from college. She was working on a cookbook with her mother and I was recruited. Now I’m working as a freelance photographer, and getting paid to do what I love is just astounding to me.

3. What advice would have for an individual wanting to start getting their work out into the community?
Just do what you love persistently and forget about profiting from it, if you even care about that. In any case, it will follow naturally.

4. What advice would have for an individual wanting to start their own company or collection of work?
Get out there and prove that you can do the work by just doing it – taking pictures! Creating a portfolio from that is a good start.

5. What things have you personally done to get your work out there, and build a name for Kitchen M in the online community as well as San Fransisco?
Use social network sites wisely. You don’t want to exploit your business or spam people’s website (it’s annoying), but do participate judiciously. Also it’s important that you value other people’s work. There are many talents out there that continue to inspire me today. Specifically in San Francisco, I try to promote local restaurants and events such as SF Chefs. Food. Wine.

6. What has been one of Kitchen M’s proudest achievements?
It’s not trivial when someone leaves me a genuine comment on my blog. It always gives me big sense of achievement that someone appreciates what I do.

7. Do you have a favorite recipe from you blog that we must absolutely try?
Kitchen M’s Tofu Cheesecake.

8. Where do you hope to see Kitchen M in the next five years? Do you have any specific goals?
I don’t have specific goals other than to improve the quality of my work and hope not to compromise my blog from what it is – a gallery of food and art.