Kräuterwirte Assmanshausen
A culinary report on the Kräuterwirte in Assmannshausen in the Rheingau. The Kräuterwirte of the Rheingau — an association of restaurateurs built around…
The Kräuterwirte of the Rheingau — an association of restaurateurs built around the region's herb cookery. Two visual worlds in one set: the group picture of the six hosts in mint-green aprons, standing around a herb cart with wine glasses, and the dishes that come out of it, each shot from above on slate, weathered timber and marble.
Herbs are the opposite of a grateful subject: tiny, uniform in color and quick to wilt — they need the plate, not the close-up. A macro of a bunch of herbs shows green leaves; only the whole plate shows what the cook did with them. So nearly everything here is photographed from above with the camera parallel to the table: the overhead view is the only angle in which a laid-out composition — strawberries, mint, meringue dots, crumb in a line beside the tart — stays readable as a composition.
The surface changes from course to course and is part of the work. Slate for dark dishes, weathered timber for rustic ones, marble and gray glass for patisserie. That is not decorative whim: a plate needs a surface around it that holds it, and a series needs variation so that ten overheads in a row do not look like the same table ten times.
The light stays the same across every course, soft and from the side, with a short shadow that shows the height. Without that shadow every dish lies flat on the plate; with too much of it the sauce goes black. The difference between appetising and technical is two or three centimeters of lamp distance.
The group picture is the other half of the job and follows a rule of its own: six hosts, six identical aprons, one cart at the center. The point is not six portraits side by side but that an association should look like one — otherwise it is a group photo of restaurateurs and not a brand.
- Region
- Rheingau
