Food Scenes

Food scenes are often a props crew's least favourite type of scene to deal with. They are often a hassle to maintain continuity with, there are food safety concerns, allergy concerns, and there are cast members who may not enjoy what, or how much they have to eat for a scene. Take twenty of eating a hamburger for example will make them sick. Crews will often bring in a food stylist who will come with experience, tools, and food safety certification and training.

### Cast concerns

-Production will have a list of cast allergies/restrictions that they can provide. This usually covers the life-and-death ones and restrictions such as vegan or kosher. These lists don't always cover everything, temporary restrictions or preferences so it's always important to discuss with the actor.

-Reduce the amount of food an actor will need to consume. This can be done with a spit bucket so cast don't always need to swallow everything they bite. This may also include hollowing out the centre of an item of food. It may also help an actor if something has less sugar or fat in it-- it may not taste as good but will be easier to eat over multiple takes.

-Dealing with allergies can be tricky. Food scenes can go from an easy stop at the store to days of food science experiments trying to get something to look or behave correctly. If you have a main cast member who has a lot of dietary restrictions, it may help you out to make sure the director and ADs are aware so that last minute food requests are minimized and respected. It may also help to have a small collection of foods the actor can eat on standby just in case.

### Continuity

-Avoid real ice. Flying Fox Props makes some of the best fake ice I've seen. It's food grade silicone that doesn't chip and flake, looks great, and floats!

-Use a small marker, or UV marker to make a fill point for refilling glasses

-Choose items to eat that can be reset easily or don't need resetting each take. For example, fries, soup, salad are all pretty easy to take small bites of without noticing continuity issues versus cutting into a steak or biting a burger. You can also start with items halved, so that you may only need to replace half sandwich for example instead of a whole uncut one.

### Food Safety

When working with food on set, establish the most convenient place you can to bring food in and out of set and keep your prep area clean and safe. There are four main categories of food safety. Clean, Separate, Cook, Chill. For more information, check out the government of Canada's food safety website.

##### Clean

Wipe your tables down with a sanitizing solution. Ask locations or your safety department for a sink close to your food prep area. Ideally your prep crew has discussed this ahead of time. Wash hands and surfaces often. Hand sanitizer shouldn't be a substitute for hand washing, but may be all you have in the field. Wear gloves when handling cast's food even if your hands are clean. The gloves will make the cast feel safer, but you should also keep your gloved hands clean for real. Dishes and cutlery should be clean. Do not use items straight from the box of from set dec. If you are using a dishwasher, use the sanitize function.

##### Separate

Don't cross-contaminate. Keep raw meat, poultry, seafood and their juices apart from other food items and off of set. Use press-and-seal, plate covers, cling wrap, or bowl covers to cover food. If food has touched another actor's plate or mouth, it should not be reintroduced to other food.

##### Cook

You should not usually be cooking raw foods on set, but there are instances where it needs to happen. Cook food to a safe temperature. Use a food thermometer: you can’t tell if food is cooked safely by how it looks.

##### Chill

Refrigerate promptly. Chill leftovers and takeout foods within 2 hours. Keep the fridge at 4 degrees Celsius (40 degrees Fahrenheit) or below. Read product labels to see what needs to be refrigerated after opening. Buy items that don't need to be refrigerated before opening when possible.

### Tips and Tricks

-Cool Whip lasts the longest on camera for something that resembles whipped cream

-A great recipe for fake ice cream is icing plus icing sugar

-Many teas can be used to mimic wine without the sugar of using cranberry juice.

-If using cranberry juice, Cran-Blueberry is the darkest for the red, and White Cranberry for white wine. These juices are not always the same colour though, and you may need to add water.

-Use only 0% fake beer not 0.05% as some people have issues with even a minute amount.

-Need your beer to get some head again? Add a pinch of salt.

-Brown beverages can be mimicked by using a product called trace water, or blk water. Your local brands may be different, but they are water that has minerals in them that make them very dark brown. They are great for coffee or spirts like whiskey and rum. Do not use charcoal as it can interfere with some people's medications. Caramel colouring is often used but it may actually be carcinogenic.