Thanin Viriyaki

In addition sharing his family’s story for the “Digging In” oral history project, Thanin Viriyaki also shot the portraits for the project. Dubbed “The Man With 75 Million Views” by D Magazine in 2022, Viriyaki is a professional photographer by trade, but has made his mark in the DFW Asian food scene by shooting magazine quality photos of his meals at local “mom and pop” restaurants, posting them online, and sharing them with the owners. In his interview for the “Digging In” project, he recounts working at his parents’ Chinese and Thai restaurants in Haltom City, his career in photography, and his thoughts about the parallels between cooking and photography. Viriyaki says, “I have this theory of how photography and the culinary arts…have these interesting parallels. Both are a combination of several elements…If I cook you a dish, it's not just…the flavor. The end result, the flavor isn't just who's the cook, it isn't just the recipe, isn't just the tools, isn't just the ingredients...Photography is kind of the same. It's not just photography, not just the model, not just location, not just the wardrobe, not just the lighting used, it's everything coming together…With food, where I'm essentially reinterpreting someone else's art…I'm like the translator. …The interesting about culinary art is, it's a fleeting thing…for it to be optimal, you’ve got to eat it basically right away, right there…So that's…part of the fun and the challenge of it is that it is fleeting.”

The portraits were taken in the fall of 2022. Whenever possible, the photos were shot in the narrators’ restaurants or stores. Viryaki’s interview is archived at Baylor University’s Institute for Oral History as part of the “Digging In” Oral History Project.  His portraits of the chefs, grocers, and restaurant owners interviewed for the project are part of the Dallas Public Library J. Erik Jonsson Central Library Digital Wall Exhibit.

Link to D Magazine article:

https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2022/october/the-man-with-75-million-views/</a >

Link to NBC News segment: https://www.nbcdfw.com/texas-today/spotlighting-local-restaurants-with-photography/3106524/</a >