Stupid food presentation

Grandeeod

I'm spinning off this thread from another here where we talk about what we are eating. A poster stuck up a pic of a breakfast he had and it was served in a frying pan and on a board etc. etc. Not surprisingly, he thought it was a crap idea.
and I'd be agreement. Another poster stuck up a link up to a twitter page that highlights some crazy presentation techniques. Well worth a look.:D

https://twitter.com/WeWantPlates?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

I'm sure we've all heard the phrase that "we eat with our eyes." I'd be the first to say that food presentation is very important. I used to eat out a lot with my wife and the whole "meal on a board" pissed me right off. The steak on a hot stone thing was another load of utter bollicks. I even had chips in a flower pot once, but then mini chip baskets became fashionable. I bought some a few years ago as a novelty thing for when my young daughter had friends over. Then my sister (who has her snobby head stuck firmly up her hole) told me that baskets were out and buckets were in. WTF! The chip buckets are fooking everywhere and they are usually very small buckets from what I've seen. My work affords me the eating out experience now and things are rapidly sliding into complete stupidity.

I think its an excuse to charge more for less and possibly a concept driven by arsehole chefs in normal joints trying to emulate more upper class joints that would maybe produce a spectacular dish in an unusual way. I'm all for nice presentation. I'm a pretty handy cook in my own kitchen and love buying bits and bobs in places like Home Store and More. (When its gone its gone!:D)

So come on. Agree with me and vent about daft as a brush presentation in restaurants, bars etc. or disagree and explain why people are prepared to enjoy and pay for a meal thats served on a brick.

OldMrBrennan83

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wally1990

There is a bit of snobbery to the whole thing I think

IMO it’s trying to push so called presentation into an art form of sorts

Like chips in mugs or baskets on planks of wood with sauces for food spread across the board in a design is a bit off the wall but some people love it

Either way , some section of society love it and upon receiving food assumes it will taste better prior to eating due to the presentation

Others will think WTF is this

I do agree that it feels like less food is being served (in terms of buying chips anyway )

Turn over your basket and a handful of chips is poor service but because it was in a basket it was beautiful (or misleading)

Each to their own but it is food only

I do agree that prices are on the up with the whole thing and booming economy and the way society is changing

Anyway Put my food on a plate

Just my 2 cents

pleas advice

https://twitter.com/TheFutureHeart/status/787732672458199041

Graces7

As a very senior citizen, we were always taught very firmly DO NOT PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD.

No manners these folk !

We were not allowed to eat fish and chips from newspaper if we had brought them home, Plates always.

OldMrBrennan83

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Grandeeod

Graces7 wrote: »

As a very senior citizen, we were always taught very firmly DO NOT PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD.

No manners these folk !

We were not allowed to eat fish and chips from newspaper if we had brought them home, Plates always.

Patww79 wrote: »

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I wish we had stats for how many people died from eating eating fish and chips from actual newspaper.

How Soon Is Now

Theres presenting food in a way that it looks amazing before you even eat it then theres ****ing stupid gimmicks such as the baskets and the boards.


Slates are the ****ing devils work in kitchens!! Especially when you drop one on your shin from a high shelf :pac:


Plates are another thing i swear if i see any more of those white with blue around the rim plates that the blue paint comes off really easy and your left with dirty looking metal all around the edges!!! **** hate them.

Grandeeod

How Soon Is Now wrote: »

Theres presenting food in a way that it looks amazing before you even eat it then theres ****ing stupid gimmicks such as the baskets and the boards.


Slates are the ****ing devils work in kitchens!! Especially when you drop one on your shin from a high shelf :pac:


Plates are another thing i swear if i see any more of those white with blue around the rim plates that the blue paint comes off really easy and your left with dirty looking metal all around the edges!!! **** hate them.

ENAMEL PLATES!:eek: A fooking curse on humanity and any chef in a kitchen. They may have been better in the wild west.

Graces7

Grandeeod wrote: »

I wish we had stats for how many people died from eating eating fish and chips from actual newspaper.

Oh it was not about hygiene! It was not done to eat from newspaper.... Remember this was just after the War and we were trying to get life back to normal. There had been enough eating from paper etc. Had to be PROPER if in a house.

I think they were right too.

Grandeeod

Graces7 wrote: »

Oh it was not about hygiene! It was not done to eat from newspaper.... Remember this was just after the War and we were trying to get life back to normal. There had been enough eating from paper etc. Had to be PROPER if in a house.

I think they were right too.

An element of social awareness that could be translated to snobbery via feeling some sense of normality Graces.

For many years after that and even into my formative years fish and chips in newspaper was a fact of life. It then became reinvented via plain paper. Its mainly boring bags these days and there's no sense of excitement anymore of unwrapping it all to see how much is inside the package.

This is quite a counter balance to my OP.

SEPT 23 1989

Can't bate eating a single of chips loaded with salt and vinegar straight out of the bag

the ponsy restaurants should take note

Grandeeod

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Can't bate eating a single of chips loaded with salt and vinegar straight out of the bag

the ponsy restaurants should take note

They probably will and charge us €7 a go.:eek:

RETRO!

humberklog

Grandeeod wrote: »

I wish we had stats for how many people died from eating eating fish and chips from actual newspaper.

Apparently it's a bit of myth regarding using newspaper.
The chips were first put on a plain sheet of grease proof paper and then that was wrapped in newspaper.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Grandeeod wrote: »

I wish we had stats for how many people died from eating eating fish and chips from actual newspaper.

I doubt there was a single one. Nothing used to beat a fish and chip. wrapped in newspaper, while strolling along the seafront on a late summer's evening. It's not as if it was used paper, just unsold papers and it kept the food hot while soaking the grease.
It was certainly neither pretentious nor stupid; more a practical use of a waste product - upcycling.

What is stupid is giving you chips in a little galvanised bucket wrapped with mocked up newspaper.

billyhead

Thats why I much prefer a carvery OP. Just lash the food onto the plate and forget about calories, presentation and all that ****e

OldMrBrennan83

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wally1990

billyhead wrote: »

Thats why I much prefer a carvery OP. Just lash the food onto the plate and forget about calories, presentation and all that ****e

But that’s not appealing in our Instagram pics

cml387

Patww79 wrote: »

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You called?

A fatty slab of bacon boiling under a hot light for an hour?

Grandeeod

billyhead wrote: »

Thats why I much prefer a carvery OP. Just lash the food onto the plate and forget about calories, presentation and all that ****e

Patww79 wrote: »

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wally1990 wrote: »

But that’s not appealing in our Instagram pics

All perfect quotes. Love em!

Eggs For Dinner

It's the amount of handling of the food that gets to me with these over elaborate presentations. There isn't a mouthful that hasn't been pawed

Graces7

humberklog wrote: »

Apparently it's a bit of myth regarding using newspaper.
The chips were first put on a plain sheet of grease proof paper and then that was wrapped in newspaper.

Well yes of course. We even had greaseproof paper bags to put the chips in at the shop..No myth!

Graces7

Eggs For Dinner wrote: »

It's the amount of handling of the food that gets to me with these over elaborate presentations. There isn't a mouthful that hasn't been pawed

And breathed on.. and how do you really clean boards etc..

Graces7

Grandeeod wrote: »

An element of social awareness that could be translated to snobbery via feeling some sense of normality Graces.

No; you insult us!
What s snobbery re plates?
I was thinking about this earlier . All our meals were eaten at the table. as a family.. No eating round the TV as we were before TV

I am talking 1940s and 1950s.

Occasionally on special occasions, like Christmas Eve, gathered round the fire with sandwiches, but else table and good manners. So when fish and chips was brought home,plates, bread and butter and knives and forks .. the paper was just for getting it home hot.

It was also a rare treat. .. very rare indeed.

Stigura

Grandeeod wrote: »

I'm spinning off this thread from another here where we talk about what we are eating. A poster stuck up a pic of a breakfast he had and it was served in a frying pan .....

It's funny but; Ye really couldn't make this up! I've just opened this thread as I sat down to eat my dinner. Peppered pig and chips. I'm eating it out of a frying pan!

AllForIt

What I've noticed is that all this nonsense is based around common dishes like burgers, chips, pizza. Junk food basically done fancy.

Those types of ppl go on twitter, call themselves a foodie, and post pictures, stuff like onion rings piled on top of each other is some artistic way. And for those ppl to call themselves foodies as if they are connoisseurs of food is just laughable. They don't know the first thing about food usually. They probably can't cook, eat chips when they go on a sunshine holiday abroad and when at home couldn't make a sauce to save their lives. I find the whole thing a pathetic attempt to be an expert on something when they haven't got the first clue. Fair play to restaurants for identifying these attention seekers and charging over the odds for food that is relatively inexpensive to make. A fool is easily parted with their money.

OldMrBrennan83

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looksee

I like chips served in a bucket. I feel free to eat them with my fingers, while still using a knife and fork for the rest of the meal.

Cutting steak on a board is more satisfactory than squeaking a knife on a plate. (there is a theory that wood has a self cleaning property, its supposed to be more hygenic for cutting on than the plastic boards).

Otherwise though, a plate please!

Some of the stuff on that 'Can we have plates' page is quite disgusting, especially the shoes. Mind you, if any of us came in with new shoes in a box and put it on the table there would be war. Putting shoes on a table, especially a food table, is quite impossible to me.

AllForIt

Patww79 wrote: »

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I'm not well off enough to dine out in fine dining restaurants but I have worked in a few of them. There was always a presentation element to the dishes and that was always considered natural in such places but the taste and ingredients used were always of far more concern and interest than the presentation. Fancy burgers, fancy onion rings is just laughable to me. I would consider steak and chips pretty standard fare as well.

Cork Lass

Grandeeod wrote: »

I wish we had stats for how many people died from eating eating fish and chips from actual newspaper.

At least they died happy 😀

The Princess Bride

Grandeeod wrote: »

I wish we had stats for how many people died from eating eating fish and chips from actual newspaper.

Was in a restaurant in Belfast some years ago and one of our children ordered fish and chips.
It arrived served in newspaper.

It was rather off putting seeing tasty food, with Kerry Katona's face

was gonna say puss, but was afraid readers would misread it, so face will do

staring up at us.
It almost put us all off our food.

The chocolate in the shoe!! :pac:

MarkY91

Seen someone's chips inside of a mini shopping cart that you can wheel around a table on Instagram the other day. This is in Dublin, not some weirdo American restaurant. Whatever happened to a plate?

Shove your slate, bring me a plate.

pleas advice

Deleted User wrote: »

The chocolate in the shoe!! :pac:

Is real?

pleas advice

looksee wrote: »

if any of us came in with new shoes in a box and put it on the table there would be war. Putting shoes on a table, especially a food table, is quite impossible to me.

https://www.bloomsbury-international.com/images/.../britishculture-superstitions.pdf

According to superstition in the UK, you should never put new shoes on a table as it is symbolises death of a family member. Many years ago, when a miner passed away, his shoes would be placed on a table and this is often how his family would find out about his death.

Minderbinder

There’s a seafood restaurant near where I live that brings your food in a shovel and empties it out on the table. It is shellfish to be fair.

Have to agree with the OP about the hot plates that food is sometimes presented on. Disgraceful carry on. Food should come hot and cool down gradually. I don’t want to burn the mouth off myself and I don’t want my food over cooked.

pleas advice

I remember on one of these 'masterchef's or whatever, one of the contestants served up battered fish and chips, in a paper bag, on a plate, and the judges were not impressed, not one bit.
The VERY NEXT COURSE they were demonstrating was cooking a fish in paper, and serving it, in paper, on a plate...

How Soon Is Now

This is what happens when we let hipsters take over. Nearly every second restaurant or pub that opens these days especially in Dublin is hipster themed bull****.
They love the "quirky" "trendy" presentation and decor. I can ignore it to a degree when food is really good otherwise just don't see the need.

Pretentious people pretentious food sure!

somefeen

The simple, joyous surprise of finding your chips wrapped in page 3.

Archeron

I recently got a piece of cake and coffee in a visitors centre place. The cake came on a piece of paper carefully positioned on a wooden board. Icing sugar was scattered over the board and the cake. The cream for it came in a seperate small bowl thing. That bowl was on a plate. The coffee cup came with a normal saucer, but also another small plate on which was sugar and a miniature milk bottle. I also got a spoon, a knife and a fork. A lot of kerfuffle.
The cake was disappointing.

looksee

pleas advice wrote: »

https://www.bloomsbury-international.com/images/.../britishculture-superstitions.pdf

According to superstition in the UK, you should never put new shoes on a table as it is symbolises death of a family member. Many years ago, when a miner passed away, his shoes would be placed on a table and this is often how his family would find out about his death.

Yes this was in the UK, in a mining area, and now you mention it I recall the superstition, I had forgotten the details.

Grandeeod

Saw a poor chap in a Hotel bar this evening. Ordered a Chicken wing starter. Menu described it as Spicy wings in a BBQ sauce. The wings came out on a slate of some kind covered in sauce. The sauce was running onto the table off the slate. It looked disgusting. By the time he'd struggled through it and after many finger bowls and napkins, the slate looked like a scene from a horror movie. I had a similar experience in a different place last year and the wings were in a bowl. No enjoyable way of eating them.