Eating has always been both a necessity and a luxury –something that could provide for the health of an individual while also provide a source of pleasure. What we eat often affects how we feel just by the way it is packaged or presented, which is why even the healthiest of dishes can also be sexy.
People love looking at food, for some it can be its own form of art. When you see a fresh piece of salmon on a clean white plate drizzled with a balsamic syrup, it’s hard to not find it appealing. The same goes if something is presented terribly and even worse (and in some cases covered by ConsumerBell like this one) food is not only hidden from view of the consumer but covered up, masked, dressed in a costume of misleading allure.
Think that juice is fresh? Cut behind the cardboard walls and take a look yourself.
What we consume should never be hidden. It’s our given right to look and feel all those things we want to eat or drink.
As a food critic and founder of a website dedicated to sharing real, visual photos of food in their normal state at restaurants, it’s amazing the power in authenticity. On our site we host pictures from actual people who have ordered and eaten a dish so that instead of consumers looking up a recommendation of a restaurant that may rate “3 Stars” or have a review of the service, you can actually come to our site, search, and look at the photo of a particular dish. Why is this service becoming so popular?
Because it’s human nature to want to see your food before you eat it.
There are ways to maximize healthy alternatives like choosing boiled meats over fried or salad dressing on the side versus pre-tossed. Healthy food can be colorful, presented well, and visually sexy. Even with Asian cuisine:
I find the allure of a Thai Spring Roll more appealing to eat with its clear wrap
showing all the veggies and ingredients inside
…more desirable than a fried Chinese egg roll that’s crispy and blocks the view of what’s inside. So if we do know that healthy food can be sexy then why do we so often buy unsexy food, simple bargains? Is your health worth a bargain?
Below is a photo recently uploaded to our site, its a dish of fresh Salmon from a local digital company’s cafeteria. Seemingly even when faced with employer decisions, people still care about food choices.
Courtesy of CampusFork.com
This article is part of ConsumerBell’s Food Undressed week, detailing healthy, socially, and environmentally-responsible eating habits and food safety.
Rayfil Wong is the CEO and Founder of Campusfork a website dedicated to allowing users to search for specific dishes and see what they look like at time of being served. He was a food writer for AsianWeek.
