Disclaimer – I recognise I was hugely privileged to be able to plate my food when there were people out there who were struggling to make ends meet during the first lockdown. As then, so now, my heart goes out to them. I did whatever I could to support them.
I remember from my lockdown cooking days that I would take pains to plate my food. Nothing fancy but just making the layout appealing. When I would share the images of the plated dishes with friends, I would invariably invite curiosity in the form of, “Why do you decorate your food?”
First, I clarify that I’m not a shallow person but we do make our first impressions with our eyes. Our brain signals us if something looks good. That makes us desirous to get up close & personal with the subject.
Second, the lockdown days were such that little things brought joy to me. Perhaps a thing as simple as rice overturned in the plate in the shape of a bowl! Or arranging coriander leaves over a kidney beans curry and making a couple of lines with cream!!
I’m an average cook. At least 50% of my dishes, thus, turned out to be tasty. Presenting them well took that percentage up to 100%! The plating showed effort had gone into the food preparation; that automatically increased my appetite & made the food tastier!
I further realised that when I presented my dish, I didn’t eat it in a rush. I took my time through it, savouring every aroma & flavour that arose from it. Healthier way of eating, no? This isn’t to say that bad food would have become delish by plating. As is with people, so with food – it’s to be a balance of style & substance!
Even now when I look at some of my images from the lockdown cooking days, I feel great!
