The Appetiser

Everything that looks good must taste good, right?  My name is Danielle, an English Literature Foodie obsessed with the presentation of good food. I believe that the majority of the time visual representations of food are equally, if not more, important than the taste. In Modern Cookery for Private Families, English poet and cook, Eliza Acton suggests food is "merely to please the eye". There has always been a strong idea that food is not only to be consumed but it has decorative qualities.

From a young age if the food did not look appetising there was no way it was passing my lips. I have never been a fussy eater but I have always believed that if the food is 'ugly' then it was not going to taste nice. My happiest food memories begin with its appearance. The 'Smiley' Sunday breakfast (below) was clearly going to satisfy my tummy. This breakfast was not only for consumption, it was a breakfast that needed to be seen.

The opposite of this was the food that turned your tummy as soon as you saw it. For me the bubbling stew filled with animals and eye balls, which morbidly bubbled in various children's films, was something revolting and was definitely something I would not have eaten.

The obsession with visually satisfying food did not stop in my childhood; I enjoy the look of well-presented food in restaurants, on cook shows and in magazines. The visual representations of food are important for an audience in buying and cooking so they can decide with their eyes. This is the main reason why I have chosen to study this aspect of food.

The main questions I wish to address in this blog are:

• How does literature confirm that the look of the food is an important component?
• To what extent has representations of food in cookbooks changed and become more visual?
• Does the context of food effect how it is presented?
• Do pictures change the way we make recipes?
• To what extent has the dinner party changed since the Victorian period?

Works Cited

Acton, E. Modern Cookery for Private Families. Lewes: Southover Press. (1993)

Google Images- “Bubbling Brew” Accessed 9/02/2015

Google Images- “I’m on a seafood diet. I see food and I eat it.” Accessed 9/02/2015

Pinterest- "happy bacon pancakes" <https://www.pinterest.com/pin/461126449322600269/ > Accessed 9/02/2015