Glamour Shots

Photo © Rob Jones

So … I was thinking …

Does it matter what your food looks like.

I do like a little design in food presentation. It definitely makes me happy if the food on the plate is pleasing to the eye. But why should this be?

Watching cookery shows on the television you can see the extent to which chef’s arrange their food. On some shows involving talented/talentless amateurs you can also feel unnerved by a badly laid out plate of scram.

But in evolutionary terms … how could this possibly have come into being? I cannot believe early hunter gatherers in man’s history came back from a foraging or hunting trip, only to sit down at base and start arranging their food in an attractive way?

Tidy, well arranged, pretty food is appealing. Roughly-tumbled food served any-old-which-way isn’t.

I was not surprised to find out that in tests, people said that a pretty or enticing plate of food was tastier than an ill-judged assemblage. Sometimes by up to 20% better.

And of course these days, a meal isn’t a meal unless you take a photo of it and post it on social media. When did you last see a photo of a disastrously arranged plate? Before the smart phone, was there an equivalent? Did Victorians take their plate to the window to show neighbours and then make a ‘thumbs up’ sign?

All this raises so many questions.

I suppose the basic job of food is to stoke the ovens of the body. (Though people sometimes eat to excess)

Taste probably is a protection measure to make sure we don’t eat things that will kill us. (However we do still consume things that will polish us off eventually if eaten in great quantities).

But where does prettiness come in? And food-bragging?

Clearly cultural constructs.

I grew up with the basic ‘three part’ design. Meat and two veg, smothered with gravy. There was no real room for design in that. And yet nowadays, I’d be ashamed to appear at the cook house door without using a set square and colour swatches to present my dish.

While contemplating all this …. I made a smiley face with a Scotch Egg, Horseradish Mustard (nose) and Coleslaw (mouth).

Because I wanted to.

R