A tattoo often tells a story, but sometimes it’s about making a strong statement. To make a permanent mark, to put an image on skin that won’t wash off, shows what matters to someone.
People who make food, who brew beer, who roast coffee often mark themselves with an image related to how they do so and what engages their hands, mind and heart.
This collection of food folks from Michiana tells us what they put on their skin permanently in relation to the food and drink that is more temporary as it makes its way from the field and farm to plate and belly.
Murray got his first tattoo when he was 21 and kept going. Now his tattoos reflect his life as a brewer and even as a gardener. His freshest ink, on his left leg, shows okra, tomatoes, carrots, beets and kohlrabi. “This is all stuff I grow,” he says as he lifts his pants leg to show the outline of his first colored artwork. “That’s going to be my favorite.”
On his right arm is a skeleton wearing a monk’s robe with a hop vine as beer brews. “The old Greenbush copper kettle is in the background. That’s what I learned to brew on,” he says of the piece of equipment at the popular Sawyer, MI, brewery.
Murray, who was a tattoo artist himself for a short time, has skulls on his arms, but says they’re not connected to the character on the colorful Burn ’Em cans who has become known as Mr. Burn ’Em.
As Maeyens roasts coffee in his space at LangLab in South Bend, he can glance at his newest tattoo on his right forearm: a coffee tree with beans hanging ready for harvest. “I’ve been wanting a coffee tree for a while,” he says.
It marks Zen Cafe’s ongoing growth as a coffee roaster and now a cafe. He’s continuing to invest in those who cultivate the coffee in Central America and is starting a new venture with partners Rudy Carcamo and Salvador Moya.
Maeyens has a Japanese character related to Zen on his left arm and a drawing from animator Don Hertzfeldt dubbed “My spoon is too big,” but he’s also marked by an early effort to tattoo himself. At age 13, he used a tack and Sharpie to try to draw a yin-yang on himself. It’s more of an oval than circle. “I thought about inking myself from an early age,” he says.
Barry has nine tattoos, but the most recent have a distinctive food flavor. “I wanted to get food tattoos when cooking started to mean something to me,” she says.
Now, on her left arm toned by kneading bread, is a sleeve of herbs growing together—lavender, parsley and cilantro. She loves the smell of lavender, how parsley makes a dish better, and what cilantro does to tacos. “I’ve got a love for tacos,” she says.
On her right bicep is a fish with flowers because one of her favorite tasks is breaking down a whole fish for cooking.
On her right forearm are blueberries, an homage to the ones she picked every summer at her grandma’s, and thyme, another herb she loves. “I’ve still got to add the garlic,” she says, but tattoos are expensive and she’s spending most of her money on building her business of baking sourdough bread and doughnuts.
It started with “HitchChef.” The iconic outline of Alfred Hitchcock with an added chef hat was Beattie’s first tattoo. A galaxy scene followed before Beattie returned to food-related tattoos.
A morel mushroom went alongside HitchChef, as did a kohlrabi. “It’s a not-very-well-known vegetable that’s delicious and versatile,” he says. He honored the vegetable with a tattoo because of that, and lists how kohlrabi can be used like an apple or potato.
He’ll complete the half-sleeve at some point at Stillhouse Tattoo & Piercing in South Bend but went farther up the arm for his newest tattoo. The depiction of the Keen Cutter meat grinder is a testament to Beattie’s work at a historic butcher shop and as the co-founder of a sausage company that sources local ingredients to make bold and brilliant flavor combinations.
He loves the permanent tributes to his work on his arms. “They’re a cool way to pay homage to my love, craft, hobby, obsession and passion and I like to be reminded on a daily basis of my dedication,” he says.
Dille’s original tattoos focused on her love of birds. Her most recent shows a new love thanks to her work at the Neapolitan-style pizzeria.
Basil is her favorite herb, so it’s there on her left arm alongside half a fresh fig. “The fig is more Venturi-geared. We have the fig pizza there,” she says.
The fig creates some confusion as people spot it. “A lot of people think it’s a pomegranate because most people haven’t seen a fig in real life,” she says.
As a kid, Dille was intrigued by tattoos. As a young woman, she’s using them to mark stages in her life. She asked herself what she was doing right now and opted for a scene related to her work at Venturi.
“It’s going to be part of me for the rest of my life,” she says.
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