If you are not convinced that appearance is everything when it comes to food just take a look at the carefully created photos of food at a fast food restaurant.
The picture has you salivating as you stand in line, you can already taste the mustard on your tongue, the red tomato, and the flavour of the juice from the burger patty.
Tell the family they’re having a salad for supper and the response may not be as enthusiastic.
Look at salad photos in good recipe books though and it is hard to believe the ingredients are all uncooked, completely natural and are good for you. They throb with colour and artistic interpretation.
In a scientific test some years ago children were given food from a popular fast food chain in the usual wrapper. They were also given the identical food in a plain wrapper. They declared that the food in the authentic wrapper tasted better than the food in the plain wrapper.
Research at the University of Calgary, a few years ago added another dimension to the research.
Dr. Charlene Elliott, professor at University of Calgary, worked with 65 children giving them identical food, first the popular fast food chain wrapper, the same food in a plain wrapper, and the same food again in a different, more high-end, fast food chain wrapper.
The aim was to see what influence the packaging had.
In this study the children preferred the same food in the high-end fast food wrapper. Elliott believes her findings indicate there is a preference for “appearance” rather than “branding”.
Children are impressionable but so are adults. Most of us can recall being offered food that did not look appetizing and how quickly we lost our appetite.
I find preparing appetizing menus starts at the supermarket.
If you are planning a pasta dinner and the sauce is barely visible, you will need a range of colourful vegetables such as red and yellow peppers, coriander for a dash of green and maybe some grated shards of carrot. Try to visualize how you will present it on the plate. You may be surprised to discover the healthy meal your family normally turns their nose up at, suddenly is unrecognizable.
A lot of what we eat, and how we eat it, simply fills our stomach and nothing more. That needs to change.
We’ve lost the art of enjoying attractive, tasty, and beautifully served food while savouring good conversation with family and friends.
The French are particularly astute when it comes to food presentation. You can tip a bowl of sliced strawberries into a tart shell and be done with it or you can artistically arrange those strawberries in concentric circles. You can then gentle brush a glistening glaze over the fruit and it will look as though it came from a French p‰tisserie.
The former will look like you were in a hurry and the later as though you cherished the people you made the strawberry tart for.
We are what we eat. We all need to eat and the healthier the food the better for our bodies.
So here’s a concept. Instead of begrudging the time it takes to put a meal on the table consider the value of that food and the loved ones eating it. Use the preparation time as an artistic challenge, away from the stresses of the day, and then sit down as a family to communicate about the day, laugh, love and enjoy a healthy meal.
Here’s to really good food, attractively served, and here’s To Your Health.
To Your Health is a weekly column by Gillian Slade, health reporter for the News, bringing you news on health issues and research from around the world.
