The day the kitchen stood still....

Tuesday, January 14th

Presentation of a meal

     When it comes to food presentation is almost as important as taste. Not only should a food taste good but the way it is presented must also be pleasing to the eyes because who would want to pay a couple hundred dollars for dinner that looked like shit? Presentation in my opinion dictates the skill and the dedication the chef has to both the customer and food. The food must look appetizing as to appeal to both the customer and viewers. A good presentation draws attention to people just as bait acts to fish, it must catch the eye and start a rumble in the stomach. It needs to manufacture the need in order to supply the demand.
    The technicality of how a dish is organized is a key component of presentation. Think of it as though the chef is leaving a bread crumb trail for the customer to follow. The chef can use different optical cues to have the eater follow unwritten instructions on how to eat a dish. For example a chef can place a nest of quail legs at the bottom left corner of a plate and have the sides lined up diagonally from the upper right corner. Trying to encourage the eater to start at the top right and experience the different flavors of the sides one by one. Another example is a steak in the middle of the plate with a moat of sauce around the steak, a ring of another sauce or seasoning around the moat and then another ring of something else outside of that ring. These rings would look like a bulls eye emphasizing the steak but draw the eater to coat their bite with all three rings of seasonings/sauce on their way from plate to mouth.
    In my opinion a chef with good food presentation is confident in their skills and shows that dish love. Now don"t get me wrong, just because mom doesn't plate well doesn't mean that her food isn't full of love. What I mean is that the chef is skilled enough to be able to make a dish that looks great and tastes even better. I like to have confidence in my chef that they are giving me my money's worth and working hard so that I can enjoy the fruit of their labor. The excitement in a dish is a little extra that can be given by the chef to the eater. Something that will make the eater say, "Wow! That looks great!". This little sometimes forgotten element is what can make an average everyday chef a sudden star. The customer will remember and tell their friends who will experience and tell their friends as well. It's one huge chain reaction. Think of a pebble thrown in a
pond, the "wow factor" being the pebble, and the waves that follow, being the reaction caused by said pebble. It's the little things that if done correctly will make a huge difference.