Is presentation important in your cooking?

@noyida (795)
Singapore
August 23, 2007 10:41pm CST
I do cook and always call friends and family for dinner or lunch. Most of the time, I never bother to present my food/dishes bombastically. What I did is only put them on the serving dish and stack the plates/bowls next to the dishes. We normally have a buffet style kind of setting. So presentation is not that important. I will only do presentation if the number of guest is less than 4 and that mostly very rare. My family is big and my circle of friends are so many, how to do presentation of food for everyone. Important for me is the food must be very delicious and palatable. How about you?. Do you present you food that you want to serve to your guest?
2 people like this
12 responses
@squaretile (3778)
• Singapore
24 Aug 07
that's a great discussion, noyida! well, sometimes I get so lazy, or family that is quite close, that I don't even transfer from cooking pot to serving dish! haha, just the vision pot of soup, or the baking tray of pasta bake makes it directly onto the dining table. then people just take a big ladle and scoop out whatever they want. haha. I don't do like carrot flowers or tomato watermelon sculptures. cooking is already tiring enough as it is! Sometimes my friend who bakes puts fresh flowers as decor on her cakes - super lovely.
1 person likes this
@noyida (795)
• Singapore
30 Aug 07
Hahhaahh ... thats what happened when the laziness bugs struck. But I would never do that, from stove to table... its a no no for me or my family. My late mother will never approved of her 8 daughters to do that. Its kind of rude for Malay to serve people food that way. I would love to decorate my food presentation, but hardly got the chance cause my family will always said dont waste time as when they smell the food, they just want to eat them. How then..aiyah.
@abbey19 (3106)
• Gold Coast, Australia
24 Aug 07
Good Food - A nicely presented meal is very important.
Hello my dear friend! If I have 6 or less people for dinner, I always present the meals in an attractive way on their plates, because I feel that presentation is important. Like when you go to a restaurant - it always looks very appetising! However, if I have more than 6 people, I put the food in serving dishes, and let people help themselves; I find this way is the best way for a larger number of guests. The most important thing of course, is that the food is tasty and that everyone enjoys it!
@noyida (795)
• Singapore
30 Aug 07
Hi Abbey..I believed you will take all the trouble to present your food nicely. I will do that too if to impress the guest. LOL!. But seriously, I dont have the urge to really spoil the presentation if its too nicely done. Sometime, I just wished that I could do nice presentation, but my friends or family would rather eat the food once its ready than wait for me to decorate them. They can't wait to enjoy the food. Anyway, thanks.
@ladyjava (1184)
• Malaysia
6 Sep 07
I don't host that often but when I do it would be probably, like you, be for a group of friends as oppose to smaller ones. For me, as long as the food is good, that is all that matter. Sometimes, the smell of good food is enough to whet the appetite much more than any looks can.
@cherriemae (3370)
• Philippines
24 Aug 07
i think so, because with a beautiful presentation, the food that you cook really look so yummy and delicious and presentable..
@noyida (795)
• Singapore
30 Aug 07
But looks can be deceiving sometime. Agree though, presentation do make people pay attention and create curiosity for them to try. Thanks.
@zer0charly (5614)
• Philippines
24 Aug 07
for me its important...it's a way of catching the eye of the people who'll eat what you cooked..just like what the restaurants had been doing..because of that,people will become more interested to eat what you've cooked..
@vinzen (1020)
• India
24 Aug 07
Yes, if there are a number of guest that we have invited for a special dinner, which happens rarely, then the tables set beautifully, the best of cutlery and crockery etc are out and the presentaions perfect as well. Its because it happens rarely, and maybe over a weekend, so we do manage to take out that special time to do up the dishes and food properly and present them in special serving bowls and decorate the food, just like we see at the restaurants, as i belive that if we have called over someone, the first look at the food, should make them say wow!!, and tasting the food comes later, first they see the food, which should be appealing. I think that if the food is appealing to the eyes, it automatically is half your battle won too. Of course it must taste good and thankfully i cook well, so when the two are added together its a perect meal. But when we are home, and just the daily routine is going on, then there is no lavish kind of presentations, guess theres no time for that, maybe just a little dressing or salad done up here or there, nothing more. But doing up the dishes and presenting them , has its own charm too.
1 person likes this
@kochmy (94)
• Malaysia
24 Aug 07
Hello!Noyida, For me, food presentation is very important. If less than 6 persons I will present it individually(For western food). For local/asian food, I will use a nice plate to present. Not much work. It is just a passion of cooking.
• Canada
24 Aug 07
I really don't enjoy cooking at all so it is only on special occassions that I will make a big dinner and have family and friends over . Because I rarely do this , I do try to make everything a big deal out of presentation but on a normal day that wouldn't matter to me at all . I do this at Christmas as that is the one day of the year that I enjoy what I am cooking as I know everyone is going to love my ham as it is the favorite among all those that come over , I believe because I am confident about making it that is why it comes out so much better . Other then Christmas it is rare that we have others over so presentation is not a big deal . Like you , I just want the food to taste good .
@earthsong (589)
• United States
24 Aug 07
Presentation is usually the last thing on my mind. As long as the food tastes good and the serving dishes and utensils are clean (my teenagers do the dishes, so you understand that concern LOL) I could care less how it looks. In any case, I have a 14 year old son that is almost 6'3" and he seems to inhale anything set near him, so it would be a waste of energy to make it pretty :)
• Philippines
24 Aug 07
I don't cook. But, as a person who loves eating (and I don't get very fat), I know how presentation affects the impression of the food to a person. Of course, it has a really big impact and it will make the food look really delicious. But, it's nice to put in some presentation but be sure to have the QUALITY better first before the PRESENTATION. I have a few acquaintances who go for presentations but others really go for the taste, not the look.
@Daelin (683)
• Brazil
24 Aug 07
Presentation is very important. It is half of the work. If something is really good but looks like something you would never eat, the food will not taste that good. If something is well presented but it is not that good we can even forget that and remember how beautiful the dish was.
@pinnibabu (135)
24 Aug 07
usually when i cook daily i dont bother much about presentation because its only the family members who are gonna eat. but when I invite guests, I do take care of the presentation, the crockey I use etc.