Local woman fashions food for TV

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers ‘M-M-M’—Food stylist Carol Jones, right, and her assistant, JaneSpies, display specialty cupcakes for the TV show “What I Like About You.” Jones runs Camera Cuisine out of her own kitchenNotice the food the next time you tune in to the hit WB television show “What I Like About You,” starring Jennie Garth and Amanda Bynes.

Whether the characters are in a restaurant or dining at home, most of the food on the set has been prepared by food stylist Carol Jones of Oak Park and her assistant, Janet Spies of Simi Valley.

Jones runs Camera Cuisine out of her own kitchen, preparing specialty foods for the show. She’s also worked on the NBCTV show “Suddenly Susan,” starring Brooke Shields, and the Nikki Cox talk show, and she’s created food for numerous magazine layouts and cookbook covers.

“Not a lot of companies do this, but it’s becoming more popular,” Jones said. “It’s hard because not all shows budget for it.”

The set has only a microwave and a refrigerator, so Jones and Spies do most of the cooking at home, then drive the food to the set. As a prop provider, Jones sometimes is told to have the food on set catered, rather than preparing it herself. In those situations she orders and sets up the food and provides plates, cups and utensils.

For a recent Thanksgiving episode, Jones prepared a meal of mashed potatoes, yams, green beans, stuffing and squab, a fancy term for young pigeon. The script called for this delicacy rather than the traditional Thanksgiving turkey, according to Jones. After a great deal of searching, Jones finally found one at Gelson’s. The characters ate everything but the squab.

“It was a gag that was part of the show, but everyone grossed out,” Jones said.

Her most challenging assignment for the show was to create an edible swan dessert that would fall apart. The character Amanda Bynes plays was working at a high-end restaurant. The script called for her to trip while carrying the swans, then to try in vain to put them back together so that she could serve them.

“We made them out of puff pastry and cream. They were very delicate,” Jones said. “They kept falling apart before we got them to the set.”

Color is a big focus, added Jones. She tries to use food that will be noticed.

“You want people to see the food, so we use food coloring and bright food like red, yellow and green peppers,” she said.

Food on set can sometimes be tricky. If there are extras working on the show where food is to be eaten as part of the script, it must be edible. And an eye must be kept on the food, which can quickly spoil under the set’s hot lights.There are times when Jones has to prepare the same dishes twice, depending on the scene.

She usually gets to the set at 7 a.m. on Thursdays to do a pre-taping of the show, which runs until about 2 or 3 p.m. On Fridays, Jones arrives at the studio around 3 p.m. to prepare for the 5:30 p.m. taping of the show in front of a live audience. She’s usually there until about 9 p.m.

Her husband knows when she’s had a difficult day.

“When I’m stressed out, there’s pies, there’s cookies, there’s cakes,” Jones said. “My husband is always yelling at me to stop baking.”

Her own family’s simple eating is frustrating to Jones. Her three young sons love macaroni and cheese out of a box. She’s hoping their taste eventually develops so that she can “really cook for them.” Her husband, Robert, eats anything, Jones added.

“Right now I am limited to butter noodles, macaroni and cheese and chicken,” Jones said.

Jones was raised in a family passionate about cooking. Her brother was a gourmet cook. Jones loves everything about cooking—the way food smells, the way it looks and the way it tastes.

“I love the creative aspect. I love to eat,” Jones said. She cooks with real butter, not lower-fat alternatives. “I love pastries. The more butter and sugar, the better,” Jones said.

Jones got involved in styling food through a photographer friend who asked her to make a casserole for a shoot he was doing for Bon Appetit magazine. Jones was thrilled to be paid for cooking. She spent about five years working for magazines.

“In magazine shoots you have to take tweezers to move the food around. It’s so detailoriented,” Jones said.

With TV nobody sees the food that close up, so it’s easier work. “I could stay in the kitchen 24 hours a day,” Jones said. “It’s a passion.”