Last Summer 2012, I had my first ever job in the food industry, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as it was in the mass of fun and mayhem of the London Olympics & Paralympics 2012. My job was to supervise and manage a buffet-style restaurant for the rowing Olympians and Paralympians residing at Royal Holloway University when they weren't in full competitive mode at Eton Dorney Lake. It was a learning experience throughout and one of the main things that will ring in my ears for years to come was one of the fabulous chefs Pablo, who always called out in a sassy Italian accent - "Complete the garnish! Complete the garnish!" He (and eventually I) wouldn't let anything leave the kitchen until it looked beautiful, even if it was just sprinkled of seeds, a drizzle of sauces or decorated with a few tomatoes and greens, it had to have the extra touch of snaz to be perfect! With our guests of Olympians, Paralympians and other people of high calibre, it was evident that we were serving to previous fine diners and my eyes were open to the fact that we had to execute ourselves in utmost precision and delicacy (even if at times was just a good ol' toad-in-the-hole on the lunchtime menu!)
This brings me on to my first lecture on the Literature of Food module and our reading of Roland Barthes Ornamental Cookery who discusses how "there is an obvious endeavour to glaze surfaces, to round them off, the bury the food under the even sediment of sauces, creams, icing and jellies". Barthes discusses how cooking is devised not to be accessible but to be visible and is designed "for the eye alone". His idea of the arts of food presentation forces it aside to be a notion that is powered by the illustrations of class and that it decapitates the true beauty of real food, and how the glazing of sauces and "motives of carved lemon" are nothing more than an "incongruous artifice" which hides away of nature of foodstuffs. The critical nature of his tone of voice frustrated me slightly. I was taken back to my working days at the Olympics and Pablo's broken record of "Complete the garnish!" and fascination on how beautiful food is presented and literally couldn't disagree more and this inspired me to write this blog on the different ways food are presented a why it works!
As a researched further I came across the different forms of 'plating' used particularly in fine dining:
- 'Classic' plating - the main item in the front of the plate, with vegetables/starches at the back (probably what me and you are used to unless your mum's a gourmet chef!)
- 'Stacked' plating - all items of food are stacking together in one way or another.
- 'Shingled' plating - Leaning the main item upon a vegetable bed or side items.
(That flower on the plate gives this dish that extra special look right?!)
Don't they all look gorgeous! They are perfect examples of how, if done so properly, food can be presented so beautifully just like painting a picture. Barthes ideas on food presentation seem to be flavoured on the mindset of people of that time, where they only started to begin to divide from the structures of class and how when food presented like shown above, was a way to show off the prestigious nature of the working-class - "Hence a cookery which is based on coatings and alibis". I wouldn't disagree here, for you'd never expect find this sort food presentation in McDonalds but only in the higher end restaurants who specialise in ensuring it looks as good as it tastes. These techniques take that extra bit of time and skill to work and are therefore appreciated as high calibre food as oppose to the sloppy throw-togethers of fast-food! The words 'fine-dining' speak for themselves and are also spoken through the way in which these chefs produce their final plates - I mean you've all seen an episode of Masterchef where there's always a moment left at the end to plate up and then serve!
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