South African photographer Louhani Els has been highly commended at the World Food Photography Awards for a moving image inspired by a poem.
South Africa (11 June 2026) – Food has a remarkable way of carrying memories. A familiar recipe can transport us back to childhood. A favourite meal can remind us of someone we love. Sometimes, the simplest ingredients become symbols of stories, relationships and emotions that stay with us long after a meal has ended.
For South African photographer Louhani Els, those memories became the inspiration behind an artwork that has now earned international recognition.
Competing against nearly 9,000 entries submitted from more than 50 countries, Els was Highly Commended in the Cake Award category at the prestigious World Food Photography Awards, one of the world’s largest celebrations of food photography.
Her striking image, Food Altar – Sardines and my Dad, stood out not only for its artistic execution but for the deeply inspiring story behind it.
“This artwork translates Tori Derricotte’s poem (My Dad and Sardines) through food photography, portraying a daughter’s reconciliation with the memory of her deceased father,” says Louhani. “A damaged cake symbolises her brokenness, forming a healing food altar with his sardine, cracker, and onion ritual, uniting father and daughter through remembrance and peace.”
“My photo is based on a poem about a daughter who reconciles emotionally with her memory of her father’s food ritual. I simply associated with her grief and healing prosess due to undergoing a simular prosess of grief and healing after my divorce.”
The image centres on a damaged cake, symbolising brokenness and loss, surrounded by elements inspired by the poem of Tori and her father’s ritual of eating sardines, crackers and onions. Together, they form what Els describes as a healing food altar, bringing father and daughter together through remembrance, reflection and peace.
It is a concept that resonates far beyond food photography. At its heart, the work explores something universal: how we carry the people we love with us, often through the smallest and most ordinary moments.
While the international competition crowned British photographer Jo Kearney as its overall winner for her image A Woman Eats in the Canteen of the Soviet-era Sanatorium, South Africa had plenty to celebrate too.
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The World Food Photography Awards attracted entries from photographers across six continents, with winners selected by an esteemed judging panel that included South African-born Michelin-starred chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and legendary food photographer David Loftus.
For Louhani, however, the achievement feels especially meaningful because the image is rooted in something so personal.
In a competition filled with beautifully styled dishes, dramatic culinary scenes and extraordinary moments from around the world, it was a story about family and healing that helped her work stand out.
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