Shirley, is half of the duo the social food, a creative studio around food, and the mother for a few months of Milo.
Two good reasons to talk with her about her job, which she shares with her partner Mathieu, about the sometimes complex relationship between food, pregnancy and motherhood and to learn more about the Golden month, a post-partum ritual very present in the Asian culture.
Meeting !
Hello Shirley, can you introduce yourself in a few words ?
My name is Shirley, I'm 30 years old and I'm a new mother of a little Milo.
In life I am a chef/food stylist and culinary photographer with Mathieu my other half we created The social food 3 years ago.
Can you tell us about The Social Food ?
The social food is constantly evolving, but in short it is a creative studio around the kitchen.
We touch all possible mediums, we never do the same thing: one day we will be DA for a restaurant, another day food stylist for an ad or graphic designer and photographer for a cookbook.
You work with your partner Mathieu, what is it like to work as a couple?
Mathieu and I have known each other since we were 14 years old, we were first best friends so we always had the same passions and above all a clear vision of the lifestyle we wanted to have even before being in a couple. The communication is always fluid, which does not prevent us from arguing, and we think that arguments are important. We assume that there are no useless subjects, communication is the most important.
Pregnancy can be a complicated time when it comes to food, have you adapted your everyday recipes?
I could write a book about it :)
In France the list of forbidden ingredients is impressive, I have a friend who was pregnant at the same time in Tahiti and she did not have the same recommendations and ate raw fish almost every day ! Like there is a cultural part. But most of all I discovered Guilt !
When you are pregnant, you become public property, starting with touching your belly without authorization, and everyone tries to make women feel guilty about what they should or should not do, especially when it comes to nutrition ! Everyone has their own recommendations and it gets tiresome quickly, because the slightest suspicious food is the subject of a remark.
They are not interested in women in general and prefer to say that everything is forbidden as soon as there is the slightest doubt rather than doing real studies on the issue. I am convinced that if it was men who got pregnant, we would already have the exact list of prohibitions... Currently, we prefer to repeat "ohh it's what 9 months without eating what you want, it's nothing at all"!
I read that there was more risk of being hit by a bus than getting listeriosis from eating raw fish while pregnant, when I learned that I went back to my favorite sushi bar ! I just made a cross on raw meats, cold cuts and alcohol otherwise everything else I did not deprive myself. It's just a question of common sense and freshness, pregnant or not, I wouldn't eat an oyster that is 10 days old or a raw fish in a tray at the supermarket.
