How important is it that food looks good?

[Stan_Lite]

I don't mean the final dish. It's always nice to present food in an attractive way and even the simplest of dishes can look good if a little thought and care are taken over the presentation.

I mean the raw ingredients. If you go into a supermarket, all of the packaged foods are packaged in a way in which the manufacturer thinks will make it most appealing to customers, this is easy to understand. What I would like to know is, how much our decisions are swayed by the way in which the contents are presented?

Also, fruit and veg. In most supermarkets and greengrocers I have been to in the UK, you never see any blemishes on the produce. Take oranges for instance; every orange in the supermarket is a uniform size, shape and colour and not a mark on it - most of them are waxed to make them look more appealing. I've just eaten the orange below which I got from the galley on board the rig. It was one of the sweetest, juiciest oranges I have ever tasted - far better than any I've had back home. As you can see, it's not the prettiest orange in the world and would have been rejected by the majority of the supermarkets in the UK.

http://www.bigstan.net/Images/Orange.JPG

(That's actually quite a flattering photo - it looked a lot scabbier in real life).

Do we, to a certain extent, value appearance over flavour when it comes to ingredients? Who can honestly say they haven't by-passed a piece of fruit or veg or meat simply because the one next to it looked more appealing?

Obviously I'm not trying to say that unnattractive ingredients will automatically taste better but are we too fussy when it comes to how our ingredients look?

[Tak]

but if it's covered in clingfilm or shrinkwrap, then appearance is all we have to go on really.

Agreed.

The same does apply to finished meals as well - my presentation skills suck majorly; something like a lasagne will fall apart as soon as I go to dish it up :o not had any complaints yet though *touch wood*

[Will]

I just think of shopping in Cyprus. The fruit and veg all come from farms just down the road - they are all odd shapes and sizes, all smell fresh and have lots of little blemishes. Somehow good quality fresh fruit/veg just looks nice no matter how it's presented. They haven't really discovered cling film over there, it's great you just pick what you want.

I don't like it when supermarkets clingfilm everything, or reject funny looking apples or bananas - and I much prefer the "help yourself" style.

That orange looks great - it wouldn't have lasted than long around me! :p

[Stan_Lite]

I just think of shopping in Cyprus. The fruit and veg all come from farms just down the road - they are all odd shapes and sizes, all smell fresh and have lots of little blemishes. Somehow good quality fresh fruit/veg just looks nice no matter how it's presented. They haven't really discovered cling film over there, it's great you just pick what you want.

I don't like it when supermarkets clingfilm everything, or reject funny looking apples or bananas - and I much prefer the "help yourself" style.

That orange looks great - it wouldn't have lasted than long around me! :p

If I'm buying fruit and veg in the supermarket, I avoid clingfilmed stuff wherever possible - If it's wrapped up, I always wonder why they felt the need - are they trying to hide something? Does it have no smell or something?

I have another one I'm keeping for later. The oranges out here are so good just now, I'm eating 4-5 a day - I'll be turning orange soon :o

[Jonny69]

I think we have gone through a period when we did choose appearance over quality of flavour. Trouble is the quality has lowered at the expense of appearance especially with fruit. I will normally choose fruit that feels right and smells good, as long as it's not bruised or damaged it's fine by me. Meat I really think ought to have pictures of farmyard animals on it. I swear a lot of people think it comes from plastic boxes and not from baa baa black sheep or moo cow.

I noticed what Will said about produc in Cyprus, the fruit and veg is all out of shape but it's lush smelling and you know it's going to be packed with flavour.

Once it's on the plate it's another matter. Make a meal look nice as well and it can make it twice as good :)

[goldilocks]

i get funny looks smelling fruit and veg in the supermarket :(
we're looking for a local farm shop to buy from at the mo - but for me, it's about fresh, local food (no air miles in my veg thank you very much), that tastes great - i would rather have an ugly delicious apple, than a pretty and tasteless apple :)

[Stan_Lite]

i get funny looks smelling fruit and veg in the supermarket :(
we're looking for a local farm shop to buy from at the mo - but for me, it's about fresh, local food (no air miles in my veg thank you very much), that tastes great - i would rather have an ugly delicious apple, than a pretty and tasteless apple :)

That's pretty much what I was getting at. Most of the fruit out here isn't pretty, it has blemishes and is often misshapen but, for the most part, is juicy and delicious. Back home, supermarket fruit and veg tends to look good but is quite often bland and dry.

I agree with the air miles thing too - I went to the local Morrison's when I was living in Peterhead and fancied some apples. I wasn't expecting anything too local considering where I was but was looking to find some nice English apples. I couldn't find a single apple that was grown in the UK :shocked: Some were from as far away as Chile ffs. I'm not a rabid environmentalist by any stretch of the imagination but flying apples from South America to the North of Scotland is, frankly, taking the piss. Needless to say, I had no apples that day.

[goldilocks]

I'm not a rabid environmentalist by any stretch of the imagination but flying apples from South America to the North of Scotland is, frankly, taking the piss. Needless to say, I had no apples that day.
this week we had no salad - because it all came from spain - we have the ability to grow under glass all year round in the uk - so why do we still import?

isn't there a silly statistic that 'a kiwi fruit used more than it's own weight in aviation fuel to get to the uk' - how daft :(

[Stan_Lite]

they do have ports and boats in Spain/England/Scotland you know. Not everything is flown over!

Really? OMG

They also have ports and boats in Chile and New Zealand but they don't put fruit for the UK on them.

In a lot of cases, fruit/veg etc are put onto planes already travelling to that destination either for post/parcels/freight etc.

I'm sure they are - and I'm equally sure that there are dedicated flights from ridiculously far away, just to satisfy our desire for produce from ridiculously far away.

[Stan_Lite]

We don't grow cherries in Scotland because it's easier to fly them over on planes.

What Goldilocks and I were referring to specifically was the shocking fact that things which are relatively easy to grow in this country were imported ridiculous distances.

We can't grow bananas easily in this country so it makes sense to import them. We can (and do) grow delicious apples in this country yet I couldn't buy one from closer than Spain in a British supermarket. That's just bloody ridiculous.

[Stan_Lite]

Actually a quick 'google' shows plently of Chile -> UK via ship fruit exports.

Ah well. You win some you lose some. Unfortunately, the slow connection on the rig means I can't nitpick quite so effectively.

Chile to Scotland by boat is still a shocking waste of resources for a box of apples.

[Will]

We have all these expensive greenhouses we grow good crops yet we ship 'em out?! WTF is that all about. Local grown produce makes so much more sense. Some people are of the view that fruit and vegs not local to the region shouldn't be purchasable. I disagree with that, since commercial flights/ferries are never going to stop why shouldn't we utilise them and piggy back foods from around the world? It helps boost trades all over the world which is a good thing.

[Stan_Lite]

Edit: Forget it. It's really not worth it.

I don't know what it is you retracted but if you felt it wasn't worth arguing because of how I was defending my position, I apologise for being a bit narky.
I've just been for a coffee and a fag and thought to myself "Stan, you were being a bit narky with Kitten in that thread".

The point I'm trying to make is that, no matter what the mode of transport, importing produce from the other side of the world is a ridiculous waste of resources if we can grow the stuff ourselves or, at least source it from closer to home. The apples from Chile I mentioned earlier were Golden Delicious which are grown in abundance on the other side of the English Channel - just a train ride or short ferry crossing away.

[Will]

For local produce I agree completely Stan.

However for more exotic fruits/veg, we've had trade routes around the world for hundreds (maybe thousands) of years that shouldn't stop as it gives 3rd worlds the chance to do business with the rest of the world - as long as it's done ethically (conveniently Tak has started a thread on this!). From a selfish point of view it gives me the chance to eat nice exotic foods!

[Tak]

(conveniently Tak has started a thread on this!).

Ooo - did I create a useful thread without realising it? :) :o