​While the focus of this weekend's Le Fooding d'Amour is, obviously, le food, the event's posters are arguably as attention-grabbing as the prospect of the trans-continental gastro-orgy itself. The posters's designers were charged with the task of giving bold visual expression to the food and attitude of each participating restaurant; the resulting variety of designs demonstrate the singularity of both the restaurants and the designers themselves. Fork in the Road spoke with four of Le Fooding's designers about how one translates someone like David Chang or Julie Farias into a two-dimensional design, smashed peaches, severed pig's heads and all.

​Jeanne Verdoux, the General Greene

Verdoux had never been to the General Greene or met its chef, Julie Farias, when she was asked to design her poster, so she went to the restaurant to learn more about Farias and her food. "The way I work usually is to research my subjects," Verdoux says. "My ideas are always based on some information."

Over the course of her 30-minute tour of the restaurant, Verdoux asked Farias numerous questions about her background and her inspiration for becoming a chef. "What came out quite strong," Verdoux says, was "Tex-Mex and a lot of food going on in her family life, particularly an emphasis on meat." Farias showed her her favorite tools, which included various spoons and knives, and also allowed her to peek in at a head of beef cooking in the restaurant's oven. "I'm not sure if this applies to every other chef," Verdoux says, "but this person has a very strong personality that came through in a very brief exchange." So her design reflected that, with Farias standing impassively with her arms crossed, cleaver in hand, over a severed and bloody pig's head. "The blood is actually pink because she uses pink salt in her food," Verdoux notes.

Farias was "very surprised" when she saw the poster, Verdoux recalls. "I think it may have gone a bit further than she wanted it to go. Everybody agreed that it was a great image, but I think she was a bit surprised at how I perceived her. I think [other viewers] find some violence in it, but for me it's to be taken with humor." While Verdoux created a second, less visceral image (it features a tomato rather than a pig's head), the original reflects "the point of the assignment: everybody's competing with each other and you want to stand out. You would not go past this woman without noticing her...it's a punch in the face."