On the Town: Food in all its mysterious manifestations, as photographed by chef Kevin Thornton, will help to raise money for medical research.
Food for Life was launched at a reception in Thornton's restaurant in Dublin this week. A jazz piece, Nuages, by Django Reinhardt, as played by Patrick Collins on violin and John Whelan on guitar, set the upbeat tone.
"It's mouth-watering," said John Weddick, sales manager of Wild IrishGame, as he and Thornton's sous chef, Graham Neville, studied the photographs of food hanging around the room. A picture of truffles was the image that appealed most to chef Aongus Hanly, who was at the launch with his wife, Susan Moylett. "It just shows them as they are," he said.
Other guests included Lochlann Quinn, chairman of the National Gallery, and Arthur Gibney RHA, former president of the Royal Hibernian Academy.
Kevin Thornton "is driven, passionate, an absolute perfectionist and always questioning", said Cork-based chef Seamus O'Connell.He pointed to a photograph of sea urchin shells as the image in the collection he loved best, because "myself and Kevin share a passion for urchins".
The two chefs have known each other since their student days, added O’Connell, when they trained in Lyon, in France, about 20 years ago.
International photographer Mike Bunn launched the book. A shared love of food and photography is "a spiritual thing", he said.
Kevin and Muriel Thornton's son, Conor, contracted meningococcal septicaemia and almost died 10 years ago. He survived. Now the book will help to fund research into the disease.
Food for Life is available from a limited number of outlets. Tel: 01-478 7008 for details.