2012 In Review: Top 8 Illustrated Stories On Food Republic

David Navas has been illustrating global food culture stories for Food Republic since our early days. Here, he imagined Jamaican grilling as one of six types of The Illustrated Guide To Grilling, which also featured takes on Korean, (American) Southern and Chinese, among others.

Chicago art director and illustrator Spencer Matern rose to the challenge of inking our infographic to help y'all out with knowing Where Food Goes On The Grill (click through for the complete image). Is it grilling season yet? 

Melbourne artist Yasmine Molavi came through with an unusual pitch about Australia's booming coffee scene — and its emerging cast of coffee drinkers. We set her loose to visually describe the three most evident types, with hilarious results. It's a useful guide as well: the illustrations feature recipes for espresso, cappuccino and a latte, Aussie-style. You can see all three here in 3 Ways To Make Coffee The Australian Way. 

When former Top Chef–testant Dale Talde teamed with restaurateurs David Massoni and John Bush to open Talde in Brooklyn, in late 2011, we approached noted Brooklyn illustrators the Hayes Brothers, Nick and Adam, to start an graphic novel treatment following these self-proclaimed Three Kings of Brooklyn (click through for the illustrated story). We also asked them to stand by for the Kings' next restaurant opening...

...and the Hayes Brothers returned with page 2 of the budding graphic novel about The Three Kings of Brooklyn, when Talde, Massoni and Bush opened comfort food haven Pork Slope. Here ribs, tater tots and the mouthwatering "porky melt" dominate the menu. Check it out in full: With Pork Slope, The Three Kings Ride Again In Brooklyn.

After the success of Where Food Goes On The Grill, we turned to Pennsylvania-based artist Nicholas Toulouse to help us maximize the energy of our refrigerators and keep food fresh, and he responded with the extremely useful infographic Where Food Goes In The Fridge. 

David Navas reappeared just in time for back-to-school, inking a series inspired by his own experiences as a new parent, Fatherhood Chronicles: Packing Your Kids' School Lunch. He packed each illustrated lunch based on different types of dads, such as the rock star (pictured; notice the pills!), the vegan and the executive. Check out the entire illustrated guide. 

Last and certainly not least is one of our favorite illustrated guides that we've ever featured. Yasmine Molavi agreed to fulfill our wish to show variations on sharable platters from around the world, starting with the Italian antipastti platter and going around the world to the Middle Eastern mezze platter (excerpt, pictured) to the Korean banchan and beyond. Check out the series starting with Mastering The Art Of The Snack Platter.

We look forward to bringing you more great original art on Food Republic in 2013!