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Had a weird moment with a regular's order that made me rethink plating
About a month ago, a guy at the bar, Mark, always orders the same burger. He asked for it 'deconstructed' on the plate, everything separate. I thought it was just a quirk, but then I saw him eat it. He'd take a bite of bun, then a bit of patty, then a pickle, building each mouthful fresh. It hit me that for him, the experience wasn't about the final assembled product, it was about the control and the individual taste of each component. I've been plating for visual impact for years, but that made me wonder if sometimes we're designing for the camera, not the actual eating experience. How do you guys balance making a plate look good with making it genuinely enjoyable and functional to eat?
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cole_mitchell81mo ago
That's a great point about plating for the camera. I worked at a place where the chef insisted on stacking everything tall. It looked cool in photos, but you had to knock the whole thing over to even start eating it. The best balance I've seen is when chefs think about the first bite and the last bite being equally good, not just the first look.
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Man, that story about Mark is a real eye-opener. I'm totally guilty of building those wobbly food towers @cole_mitchell8 mentioned, just for a quick menu pic. Sometimes you gotta remember the plate is a place to eat from, not just a photo backdrop.
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