[ejd]

On the subject of Leicas and food, in the Leica 2008/9 photography product catalogue ('Die Zukunft der Erinnerung'), the section on the M system opens with a picture of a chef (possibly a celeb?) in a kitchen whisking up a sauce in a saucepan with one hand, while wafting about an M8 (M8.2?) with one of the new 21 or 24 f1.4 lenses attached to it with the other. An odd combination of activities. Looks like a recipe for a lumpy sauce and sticky camera. Maybe he's trying to catch the buzzy atmosphere of the kitchen rather than the food up close in all its glistening perfection. But it suggests that the manufacturers think a Leica M and food go together well.

Actually, I would have thought that an M and the 90mm f4 macro elmar (and the macro adapter) would give plenty of flexibility for photographing food. You get a reproduction ratio of up to 1:3 (with the M8 a smallest field 54mm x 81 mm). Without the adapter you get to 1:7 (on the M8 covering a field of 126 x 189 mm).