The photos in this gallery—a series of images by photographer Mark Menjivar of the interiors of refrigerators in homes across the US—are simultaneously impersonal (the photos depict still lifes, with the only implied human presence being the hands that arranged them) and incredibly intimate (the shot of the fridge containing an open Pepsi bottle filled with water, some miscellaneous bread products, and an unmarked paper bag—belonging to a botanist who “feels more comfortable among flora and fauna … than people”—just kills me. There are a thousand stories in every refrigerator—of late nights (the San Antonio bartender who goes to sleep every night at 8 am and subsists on food from Styrofoam cartons), family life (the San Angelo, TX construction worker whose wife gets up every day at 4 am to feed their family, whose fridge is crammed with jalapenos and potatoes), and of seeming loneliness (a San Antonio “street advertiser” who lives on $432 a month and whose refrigerator contains a black plastic convenience-store bag and a jar of mayonnaise). A few of my favorites:
Carpenter/Photographer | San Antonio, TX | 3-Person Household | 12-Point Buck
Disabled | Marathon,TX | 2-Person Household | Weighed 390lbs earlier this year.
Short Order Cook | Marathon,TX | 2-Person Household | She can bench press over 300lbs. |
Okay, the snake with the tortillas is sort of freaking me out.
What’s in your fridge, Erica? A bunch of wine you stole?
Naw, it’s probably never makes it to the fridge. Man, it must have really made you want a drink when you got busted for stealing it.
Are you an alcoholic? Do you make means to get your fix when you can’t afford it?
You are either an alcoholic or a thief, or both. Both of which are reprehensible qualities to possess as a news editor.
Naw, *it* probably never…
I know it totally undermines my “cred” that I don’t proof before posting, but I’m not under the same standards as you are, so whatever.
so sad. except for the venison.
@2 and 3,
You can’t let a minor transgression go, and you think you have any cred? You’re as stupid as you sound.
I think this is really cool! I don’t know why it’s so fascinating, but it just is! I only wish there were more to see.
Thanks for posting this ECB!!!
@1 the only reason i checked the comments was to see if i was hallucinating seeing a fucking snake in someone’s freezer
wtf?
[ ☐ ]
Public Intellectual | And a big fat hipster too | 3-person household w/10 month old |
ps why would a blind person have cans of coke and diet coke right next to each other?
Good post. Thanks
Nice post. I love to cook and by extension I love to see what people keep at the ready.
ive eaten boa before, its quite tasty, but a wee gamy and lil salty. that looks like rattle snake on that fridge, i bet you can make some good culebra al pastor tacos. hell, snake is probably better for you than swine.
@ 2 & 3 – Sounds as though you are in need of a diaper change. Better have mommy get right on that.
Looks to me like a rattler, which if so, would taste a bit like chicken, or alligator.
That’s a lot of breast milk you got there, Elenchos. Gonna make some cheese?
If you have to freeze your tequila to make it palatable, you should be drinking a better grade of tequila. Not Jose Cuervo.
SeMe, if you’re making culebra al pastor tacos I want an invitation.
Reminiscent of the evocative photos in “White Trash Cooking” by Ernest Matthew Mickler, and in its sequel. Thanks for sharing.
PS, the snake is not a rattler–the head lacks the triangular shape of a pit viper. Prob a gopher snake, which has a very similar appearence. And, no, I don’t know what they taste like.
I don’t know why I find this kind of shit so fascinating. The voyeuristic quality perhaps? What makes the pictures even better are the little bios that caption each one.
there is so much of this kind of work being made. it makes me wonder why people are so in love with Isaac Layman?
Erica — didn’t you start a column a while back where you visited local chefs’ fridges? I thought I remember one with Renee Erickson…
You know, Fnarf, if we don’t have a major milk supply interruption, like jury duty or the apocalypse or death, we’re going to have a hell of a lot of frozen milk left over. For Science, or cheesemaking or the breast milk black market or whatnot.
My mom and Dad live in W. Texas and have a freezer crammed w/ road kill. They even have a permit issued by the state to pick it up. I think the TX Dept. of Fish and Wildlife issues it. Amateur naturalists like my folks then hand the dead over to the state, who use it for some kind of wildlife census. Lots of dead animals on roads in TX. More than I ever see up here.