Pictures of Food Never Look Good

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I find that there is nothing more likely to put me off food than seeing pictures of it, especially in a restaurant.

I don't know why. Does anyone else feel this way?

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 17 November 2003 10:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes! I was going to post this in response to the culinary creations thread a little while back, but food ALWAYS looks unappetising in photos unless its been incredibly artifically laid out and had loads of light shone on it (the Observer's food photography is good).

I think it's because you isolate it from things like the smell and the visible texture and so forth, and because it usually looks tiny.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 17 November 2003 10:26 (twenty-one years ago)

the most disgusting thing ever was in the Tescos here where there is a cafeteria which has these huge backlit photos of various foods above the servery. For some reason the fish & chips with peas looked particularly revolting, but then the real thing wasn't much better.

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 17 November 2003 10:30 (twenty-one years ago)

When the colour begins to fade on photos, vegetables in general look like the most disgusting thing ever. Especially backlit ones.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 17 November 2003 10:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it tends to be prepared food that looks disgusting. There's nothing disgusting about a picture of a bowl of fruit or a solitary unpeeled potato.

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 17 November 2003 10:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Also, because many of the food used in photographs is not real food, but plastic models. Because real food would actually spoil under bright photographers' lights. Oriental restaurant food is especially guilty of this.

― Citizen Kate (kate), Monday, 17 November 2003 10:41 (twenty-one years ago)

yes I can well see how that must be the case. Like the way ppl in TV commercials for ice cream are apparently actually eating potato.

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 17 November 2003 10:42 (twenty-one years ago)

The craft in some of these models is fantastic though, i love those plastic models of drinks being poured from a pot into a glass. I want one for my room!

That, and one of those backlit pictures of waterfalls they have in indian restaurants where it looks like the water actually falls!

― ken c, Monday, 17 November 2003 11:16 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.indiaserver.com/indian-recipes/gifs/non-vegetarian-food.jpg
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

― ken c, Monday, 17 November 2003 11:24 (twenty-one years ago)

uggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 17 November 2003 11:27 (twenty-one years ago)

ken you have the same taste in interior design as Matt. He still mourns the passing of Magic Eye pictures too.

― Archel (Archel), Monday, 17 November 2003 11:33 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.hypergami.com/descriptions/sushi.gif

but this origami sushi ROCKS.

― suzy (suzy), Monday, 17 November 2003 11:35 (twenty-one years ago)

In my hometown there's an old-fashioned drive-in diner that's been around since about 1930... they've updated the menu quite a bit, but it seems like the pictures havent been updated since 1965. I find them disgusting yet intriguing.

― Mandee (Jerrynipper), Monday, 17 November 2003 11:51 (twenty-one years ago)

i like pictures of food becasue they make me feel hungry and then i eat something eat and then i feel happy becasue i get full up.

― the evil docter claw, Monday, 17 November 2003 12:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I like pics of food in cookery books, but pictures of pizzas on cheap local delivery flyers always look disgusting.

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 17 November 2003 12:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes it's much better when menus etc dispense with pictures and go fantastically baroque and adjectival with the text instead. except then the actual food can come as a disappointment.

― Archel (Archel), Monday, 17 November 2003 13:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Some guy wrote an entire book on how food looks bad in old cookbooks:

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/meat/glisten1.jpg

― fletrejet, Monday, 17 November 2003 13:16 (twenty-one years ago)

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-11/493172/onion.jpg

― the evil docter claw, Monday, 17 November 2003 13:23 (twenty-one years ago)

― the evil docter claw, Monday, 17 November 2003 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

i think you're all out of your fucking mind. i'm also convinced you all hate food. :-)

― ethereal cereal (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 17 November 2003 18:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I've seen some excellent food photography in cookbooks.

― Andrew (enneff), Monday, 17 November 2003 22:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Knowing too much about the advertising craft involved definitely increases the ugh factor. Stuff like the potato ice cream, the inedible shellac on breads, and most unappetizing of all - did you know that most of the times you see all that lovely "steam" coming out of deliciously oven-hot foods, that it's really cigarette smoke? See, real steam would fog the camera - look for it - it comes from *behind* the food.

― Kim (Kim), Monday, 17 November 2003 23:32 (twenty-one years ago)

http://img.slate.msn.com/media/1/123125/122975/2078479/2090699/2091633/sandwich.jpg

NUM NUM! (It's a Burger King's Smoky Barbecue Chicken sandwich, btw.)

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 00:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, it's like Tubgirl Pt. 2 or something.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 00:44 (twenty-one years ago)

guh! well it's burger king! of course it looks unappetizing.

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 00:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Heavens! I vomit on you now. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 00:47 (twenty-one years ago)

i mean, do you really think the 15-year-old snotnose who made that sandwich gave a shit about its presentation?

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

four years pass...

lmbo, i just remembered like two years ago or so seeing some girl taking a photo of her mexican food and dropping her digital camera facedown into the beans 'n cheese, lol. i want that to happen more often!

― omar little, Monday, 14 July 2008 19:47 (seventeen years ago)

au contraire

http://www.aintnosurfintexas.com/zz%20top%20tres%20hombres%20mexican%20feast3%20copy.jpg

― Pleasant Plains, Monday, 14 July 2008 19:49 (seventeen years ago)

My mother has a cookery book from the early 1970's with loads of pictures that look just like that...

― snoball, Monday, 14 July 2008 19:51 (seventeen years ago)

pretty much all cookery books from the 70s and before look like that

― impudent harlot, Monday, 14 July 2008 19:52 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards/rosyperfection.html

― ENBB, Monday, 14 July 2008 19:54 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards.html

― ENBB, Monday, 14 July 2008 19:54 (seventeen years ago)

(xxpost) picture of a roast beef, and the meat is glistening

― snoball, Monday, 14 July 2008 19:54 (seventeen years ago)

whoa cheese is everywhere

xposts

― rrrobyn, Monday, 14 July 2008 19:55 (seventeen years ago)

ENBB, that's exactly what the pictures in the book looked like! Except the food wasn't produced under the pretence of being good for health in any way.

― snoball, Monday, 14 July 2008 19:56 (seventeen years ago)

Snoball - ha! Why did they ever think food like this was a good idea?

Whatever is in the bowl in the following picture reminds me of the stuff that Lane Myer's mom makes for breakfast in Better Off Dead that gets up off the plate and walks away.

― ENBB, Monday, 14 July 2008 20:01 (seventeen years ago)

oops - forgot link.

Better Off Dead food:

http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards/scaryorangesalad.html

― ENBB, Monday, 14 July 2008 20:01 (seventeen years ago)

(xpost) I guess that it was down to a combination of a) all food in England being various shades of grey between 1901 and 1969, and b) wanting something that could compete with the hideous colours of the average 1970's kitchen, like orange formica.

― snoball, Monday, 14 July 2008 20:08 (seventeen years ago)

orange formica is ok.

the only food that looks good photographed:
http://la.foodblogging.com/wp-content/pavlova1_smjonah.jpg
PAVLOVA

― sunny successor, Monday, 14 July 2008 20:14 (seventeen years ago)

i don't know why people hate on pictures of food

― Jordan, Monday, 14 July 2008 20:16 (seventeen years ago)

I can imagine Gibbons, Dusty and crew chowing down on that Mexican feast right after the picture was taken

― Bill Magill, Monday, 14 July 2008 20:16 (seventeen years ago)

can we link this thread to every future and revived food thread

― HI DERE, Monday, 14 July 2008 20:17 (seventeen years ago)

Natural Bibs

xpost

― Pleasant Plains, Monday, 14 July 2008 20:18 (seventeen years ago)

What the hell is that SS?!

― ENBB, Monday, 14 July 2008 20:18 (seventeen years ago)

PAVLOVA!

― sunny successor, Monday, 14 July 2008 20:18 (seventeen years ago)

I have never heard of this edible Pavlova. Must investigate . . .

― ENBB, Monday, 14 July 2008 20:19 (seventeen years ago)

Food in TV ads is always barf-worthy.

In the books, not always.

― collardio gelatinous, Monday, 14 July 2008 20:20 (seventeen years ago)

E, its a sweet hard outside/soft inside meringue topped with cream and passionfruit syrup delight

― sunny successor, Monday, 14 July 2008 20:20 (seventeen years ago)

I totally love ZZ Top

― Ai Lien, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 03:01 (seventeen years ago)

i kind of wanted to start a thread about how i never find those $30 sculpted food towers to be very appetizing looking and feel annoyed that I'm paying extra for that presentation.

― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 03:26 (seventeen years ago)

http://photos.igougo.com/images/p162309-Martinique-Melon_and_Proscuitto_Entre.jpg

― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 03:27 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.tourismvictoria.com/uploads/images/internationalsites/culinary.jpg

― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 03:28 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.grandamerica.com/images/meetings/catering/catering_consultants.jpg

― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 03:28 (seventeen years ago)

I have heaps of modern cookbooks/recipe idea books with awesome food photography in it, but I'm rather a fan of the food pr0n.

GO back even only 15 years though, and it all starts to look pretty ridic. I have a vegetarian cookbook from the 90s that has over elaborate tables groaning with food, plates, flowers, breads, and too much frippery.

Modern food photography is elegant, simple, and naturally lit, and it can look fantastic.

Also, lileks.com to thread.

― Trayce, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 03:30 (seventeen years ago)

Not that presentation doesn't matter at all, I just find the semi-abstract-pile-on-white-space school of food design to be really unappetizing and usually pretty unimaginative too.

― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 03:30 (seventeen years ago)

http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/22/36/23033622.jpg

― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 03:33 (seventeen years ago)

http://blogs.menupages.com/sanfrancisco/thailob.jpg
Does not make the food look even slightly more tasty.

― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 03:35 (seventeen years ago)

I have to say the current trend of "everything balanced in a little tower" is kind of wtf. I was watching Ramsay shoots his Damn Mouth Off part 287324 last night and he kept shaping EVERYTHING through a kind of extra-deep egg-ring contraption so it was all balanced like your pics there.

Stop serving me my steak plonked on top of my mashed potato/veg! I only take it straight off!

― Trayce, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 03:37 (seventeen years ago)

Just serve me my appetizer on top of my entree on top of my dessert please. And pour my drink all over it and light the whole thing on fire while you're at it.

― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 03:47 (seventeen years ago)

Its food jenga.

― Trayce, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 03:49 (seventeen years ago)

Captain Challops

― gabbneb, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 03:54 (seventeen years ago)

Challops with curried cauliflower puree, pancetta and creme fraiche

― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 04:14 (seventeen years ago)

I totally love ZZ Top

andrew posted that the other day and I haven't stopped thinking about it since.

― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 04:22 (seventeen years ago)

I heart Matos' ZZ Top blog entry

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2005
Why I rule: So I get back to the office 20 minutes ago from lunch and see a large Fed-Exed package in my mailbox. I pick it up and look at the sender address: Austin, TX. Scan up and see "ZZ TOP." Wha? I open it up and there's a beautiful wooden box w/a slip-top; slide it off and there's a double-shrinkwrapped pecan pie, pecans the size of acorns, just gorgeous looking. A red 8x11 sheet: MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ZZ TOP.
Needless to say, it is FUCKING DELICIOUS. Thanks, ZZ Top!
posted by M @ 3:42 PM

― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 04:59 (seventeen years ago)

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