How important is it that food looks good?

Stan_Lite · 23-02-2008, 12:01

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.

(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?

23-02-2008, 12:01	#1
Stan_Lite Stan, Stan the FLASHER MAN! Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: In bed with your sister Posts: 5,483	How important is it that food looks good? 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. (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? __________________ Just because I have a short attention span doesn't mean I...