Nate “Igor” Smith’s Night of Gourmet Ink

We call it Gourmet Ink. Bacon, buffalo wings, Philly cheesesteaks, chocolate, peanut butter. Who doesn’t love food? Just these thoughts of food are enough to make our mouths water. Lucky for us here at INKED, our paths crossed with food and tattoo lover, Nate “Igor” Smith. Smith is a Brooklyn-based photographer with a deep-rooted passion for food, as well as the man behind Food Tattoos, a self-published zine dedicated to photos of people with their favorite food tattoos. “I have an odd fascination with food that isn’t food,” explains Smith. “I love food signage and food toys, and as someone who has spent most of his adult life documenting tattoo culture, I love food tattoos.”

In 2008 Smith began documenting his life through photographs and slowly found a growing trend of food images in his collection. “Pretty early on I had the idea of doing a small food themed zine,” says Smith, “but I never got around to it and the ‘Food’ folder on my desktop grew to hundreds of images. I ended up raising a bunch of money on Kickstarter for a book of photos of people eating called Dinner With Igor and I used the left over money to create a smaller zine of just food tattoos.” And thus, Food Tattoos was born.

Not only is Smith a lover of food ink, but he is also a wearer, just as many of the people he photographed for his zine. “None of my tattoos are in the book,” explains Smith whose tattoo collection includes a pickle by Betty Rose, a fried chicken by Katie Davis, and the words “Root Beer” by Timmy Tatts on his lip. “But I hope to get at least one more at my party.”

This party Smith speaks of is the official release party for Food Tattoos as well as Dinner with Igor. It will be held at 10pm EST this Thursday, January 8th at The Woods in Williamsburg. In celebration of food and tattoos coming together, Smith will have local New York tattoo artists, Chris Johnson and Rukus, inking custom flash food tattoos all night long for $40 each. And since no food party would be complete without a killer dessert, tattooed food lover Ashley Holt of TLC’s Next Great Baker will be bringing the cupcakes! So make sure to come on down this Thursday to get your nom on, check out some amazing works in food-themed photography and get inked!

Check out more on Nate “Igor” Smith and his work at drivenbyboredom.com