Chips Ahoy!
National Cookie Day seemed like the right moment to look at something familiar. Chips Ahoy has more history behind it than most people realize. Nabisco launched the brand in 1963 with the goal of taking the homemade chocolate chip cookie and turning it into a reliable, mass-produced standard. Even the name carried a twist. It played off the old nautical call “Ships Ahoy,” but a similar phrase appeared in Charles Dickens’ writing a century earlier. That small echo of literature gave the brand a surprising bit of depth for a packaged cookie.
The early advertising leaned into that sense of character. Nabisco introduced Cookie Man, a caped superhero who defended the world’s supply of chocolate chip cookies from various villains. It was pure 1960s television, but it turned Chips Ahoy into more than a snack. It became a brand kids recognized immediately.
Then came the “1,000 chips per bag” line. It followed the cookies for decades, sparking arguments about whether the number was real or just clever marketing. The accuracy didn’t matter as much as the idea. It became part of the myth.
On National Cookie Day, it is easy to think about the cookies we grew up with. Chips Ahoy remains one of the most widely known and most often chosen. Crunchy, chewy, or chunky, the variations change, but the original concept still stands. Open the bag and know exactly what is inside.
You can see more of my Commercial Food Photography on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000WFAqDJQOgKU Thanks!
A Monument to Cheese Pizza
Another entry from the calendar of invented holidays: National Cheese Pizza Day. As if anyone needed a reminder to eat melted cheese on bread. Still, here it is — and so is my monument to it. Two frozen Red Baron cheese pizzas sliced and stacked into a tower of excess, photographed against a black background.
Cheese pizza is the baseline of the whole idea. From Naples in the 1800s with mozzarella and tomato on flatbread, to Lombardi’s in New York serving it to immigrants in the early 1900s, it’s the foundation on which every other topping variation was built. Frozen in the 1950s, it became the fallback dinner most of us know.
So if today calls for honoring cheese pizza, this is mine.
See more in my Commercial Food Photography gallery:
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National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day
Today is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day—so I did my part by photographing this heroic mound of cookies instead of eating them. A public service, really.
The chocolate chip cookie itself was invented in the 1930s by Ruth Wakefield at the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts. She added chopped-up chocolate to cookie dough, expecting it to melt. It didn’t—and the chocolate chip was born. One of history’s most delicious accidents.
Mine came from a bag, not an inn, but they still ended up in front of my camera instead of disappearing into late-night regret. No stylists. No props. Just cookies on a black background—safe from temptation (mostly).
See more in my Commercial Food Photography gallery at:
https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000WFAqDJQOgKU
Potato Chips Deserve Better
Today is National Junk Food Day, a real thing someone decided we needed—because apparently we don’t already have enough reasons to eat chips, cookies, and neon orange snacks straight from a crinkled plastic bag.
But this year I decided to elevate things. After all, potato chips are the reigning king of American junk food—no contest. More bags are sold, crunched, and regretted than just about anything else in the snack aisle. So I gave them what they’ve never had: respect. Or at least the illusion of it.
I photographed a bowl of potato chips just as they came—no rearranging, no styling—but placed them in a deeply elegant cut glass bowl. Something you’d expect to find filled with pearls at an estate sale, not salted starch slices.
The result? A visual tension between crystal and crunch, between refined and ridiculous. High society meets high sodium. A still life that asks the eternal question: How fancy can you make a snack that leaves grease on your fingers?
Happy Junk Food Day, America.
And if you’re still hungry, you can find more food photographed just as it came in my commercial food gallery at https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000WFAqDJQOgKU
International Chicken Wing Day
Today is International Chicken Wing Day, marking the popularity of one of the simplest yet most enduring foods in American dining culture. Chicken wings were first popularized in 1964 at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, when Teressa Bellissimo cooked them in hot sauce and served them as a late-night snack for her son and his friends, creating what we now know as Buffalo wings.
The original Buffalo sauce is a straightforward mix of hot sauce, melted butter, and a few seasonings, creating a distinctive bright orange coating that has defined the category ever since. It’s estimated that Americans consume over 1.4 billion chicken wings on Super Bowl weekend alone, showing how wings have cemented their place as a go-to for takeout, parties, and game day gatherings. Wings remain a staple for bars, fast food, and home kitchens, served in countless variations from mild to extra hot.
This photo of Buffalo wings, photographed on a clean white background, is part of my ongoing commercial food photography project. I photograph foods exactly as they arrive, emphasizing their color, texture, and shape without styling tricks.
You can see more from this series in my commercial food photography gallery here:
https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000WFAqDJQOgKU
National Onion Rings Day – A Closer Look
Today has been National Onion Rings Day, a moment to acknowledge one of the most recognizable fried side items in the fast food world.
The history of the onion ring is somewhat unclear—some trace it back to an 1802 British cookbook, while others cite a 1933 Crisco ad in the New York Times that featured a recipe for deep-fried onion slices. Regardless of who gets credit, onion rings became a mainstay of American drive-ins and burger joints by the mid-20th century and have stayed popular ever since.
National Onion Rings Day is observed annually on June 22. Like many food-themed days, its origins are unofficial, but it’s widely embraced by fast food chains and fans of fried food across the country.
To mark the day, I photographed these onion rings straight out of the oven, frozen from a bag, just as they are. No styling, no enhancements, and nothing added. The close-up emphasizes the panko texture, the repetition of shapes, and the visual appeal of something usually overlooked.
This image is part of my more commercial food photography, but for now check out my From Bag to Background series, where I document fast food and snack items exactly as they arrive, unstyled and unaltered, set against a clean background.
View the full gallery here:
👉 https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000wQ3fbeEezF0/I0000nUG8tfk8Gdc
National Cupcake Lovers Day – A Classic Favorite
Before gourmet bakeries and Instagram-ready frosting, there was one cupcake nearly everyone recognized: the Hostess CupCake. Today, June 13th, is National Cupcake Lovers Day—unofficial, unexplained, and completely justified by the staying power of this classic snack.
Cupcakes go back to the late 1700s in American cookbooks, but the Hostess CupCake, introduced in 1919, was the first to be mass-produced. It started simple—just chocolate cake—but by the 1950s it gained a cream-filled center and its trademark white icing swirl.
It’s still going strong. Hostess sells more than 600 million CupCakes each year, making it arguably the most popular chocolate cupcake in America.
This image is part of my From Bag to Background series, where I photograph fast food and mass-market items exactly as they appear—unstyled, unaltered, and isolated against a black background. See the full gallery at https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000wQ3fbeEezF0/I0000nUG8tfk8Gdc
National Egg Roll Day – A Stack Worth Photographing
Today is National Egg Roll Day, which recognizes one of the most iconic—and uniquely American—adaptations of Chinese cuisine. The egg roll, with its thick wheat flour wrapper and fried exterior, has become a takeout staple across the country. While its origins are loosely tied to Chinese spring rolls, the American egg roll took on a life of its own in the 20th century, evolving into something crispier, heavier, and more filled with meat and cabbage than its traditional counterparts.
National Egg Roll Day was launched in 2019 by Van’s Kitchen, a Dallas-based food manufacturer, to honor the deep roots of egg rolls in American food culture and to recognize immigrant-founded food businesses. Since then, it has quietly earned a spot on the food holiday calendar each June 10.
For this photograph, I picked up 18 Panda Express chicken egg rolls—one of the most widely available fast food versions. Panda Express, with over 2,200 locations across the U.S., serves more egg rolls than any other chain of its kind. According to industry data, the brand sells millions of them annually, with egg rolls consistently listed among their top-selling sides. They come filled with cabbage, carrots, and chicken, wrapped in a thick fried shell. Here, I tore some of them open and piled them into a stack on my black background. Topped with their three most common condiments—sweet and sour sauce, hot mustard, and chili sauce—they’re shown as served. Nothing added, nothing styled.
This image is part of my From Bag to Background series, documenting fast food as it actually appears, without props or retouching. You can see the rest of the series at: https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000wQ3fbeEezF0/I0000nUG8tfk8Gdc
What’s Left Behind on the Parchment
Parchment paper tells its own story. The browned impressions, the outlines of where the food once rested—heat, placement, and process left behind. Nothing arranged here, just the baking sheet as it came out of the oven.
Cooking on parchment paper keeps things from sticking, makes cleanup easy, and sometimes leaves behind these quiet little records of what just happened. Any guesses what was baked on this tray?
Part of my From Bag to Background series. See more at http://SecondFocus.com Thanks!
Pigs In A Blanket, Straight From the Oven
National Pigs In A Blanket Day
April 24, 2025
Pigs in a blanket—simple, nostalgic, and still one of the most popular finger foods in America.
For National Pigs In A Blanket Day, I photographed Hebrew National beef franks wrapped in puff pastry, baked straight from the box. After coming out of the oven, I dropped them onto a black background and shot them as they landed. A few were cut open to show the interior, but otherwise there was no styling, no arrangement—just the food as it is.
The concept of wrapping meat in dough dates back centuries, with versions found across Europe. The American take gained popularity in the 1950s, and brands like Pillsbury cemented its place in kitchens and party platters starting in the 1970s. Today, pigs in a blanket remain a staple for game days, holidays, and buffet tables—ranking among the top five most popular Super Bowl snacks in the U.S.
This photo is part of my From Bag to Background series, where fast food and snack items are photographed without interference—unwrapped, unstyled, and unbothered.
See the full gallery at http://SecondFocus.com Thanks!
National Crunchy Taco Day With Tiny Tacos
Happy National Crunchy Taco Day! 🌮🔥
Jack in the Box Tiny Tacos, stacked high and ready to devour. Crispy shells, seasoned filling, melted cheese, and just enough mess to make them irresistible. Introduced in 2020, these bite-sized tacos quickly became a fan favorite—perfect for snacking, sharing, or just indulging in a pile of crunch.
National Crunchy Taco Day celebrates the hard-shell taco, a staple of Tex-Mex cuisine since the early 20th century. While tacos have deep roots in Mexican history, the crunchy variety became widely popular in the U.S. thanks to fast-food chains and mass production, making them an icon of Americanized taco culture.
Hungry now? Maybe you will like my Food Photography and other projects. Visit my website at http://SecondFocus.com Thanks!
Ruffles: The 2nd Most Popular Potato Chip—But Who’s #1?
Another look at Ruffles for National Potato Chip Day—because one post wasn’t enough. Ruffles aren’t just any potato chip; they’re the 2nd most popular brand in the U.S. With their signature ridges adding extra crunch and flavor, it’s no surprise they’ve been a favorite since 1958.
But if Ruffles are #2, what’s #1? (You probably already know.)
See more of my food photography at http://SecondFocus.com Thanks!
Celebrating National Oreo Cookie Day: A Look at the World’s Best-Selling Cookie Through My Lens
It’s National Oreo Cookie Day! Since their debut in 1912, Oreo cookies have become the world’s best-selling cookie, with over 34 billion consumed annually across more than 100 countries. Originally created by the National Biscuit Company (now Nabisco), the first Oreos sold for just 25 cents a pound. From the classic chocolate and creme combo to countless limited-edition flavors, Oreos have cemented their place as a global snack icon.
My photograph captures a pile of these beloved cookies, showcasing their signature design and creamy filling against a deep black background. Explore more of my food photographs and other intriguing projects on my website at http://SecondFocus.com Thanks!
National Pop Tart Day: A Rivalry Worth Toasting
Pop Tarts have been a staple of American breakfast since 1964, when Kellogg’s launched them to compete with Post’s Country Squares. This rivalry was more than just business—it became a cultural phenomenon, even inspiring the recent movie Unfrosted.
Pop Tarts quickly became the more popular choice, evolving from a quick breakfast option to a symbol of nostalgia and creativity.
This photograph highlights three classic flavors: Strawberry, Blueberry, and Cherry, each broken open to showcase their simple yet iconic fillings.
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Do you have a favorite flavor or a Pop Tart memory?
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