It Looks Good Enough to Eat But Is It?

Anyone who has ever set out to accomplish an even-domed paté en croûté, a galantine vivacious with dark and light meats and slivered pistachios, a golden turkey, a crème hiding under baroque swirls of whipped cream of breathtaking symmetry, or a cake so tall, so glorious that like all true beauty it makes your knees go weak—in short the kind of marvel portrayed on TV, in the ads and in the pictures of the expensive cookbooks—knows what frustration means. However carefully the directions are followed, the finished product simply does not look like the picture. The unhappy cook broods on whether this is really a warning not to indulge in the sin of pride. On the contrary. It merely tells you that practically all the food pictures are what I shall call a bloody similitude.

Food manufacturers, like those of cosmetics, deal in dreams. When photographed, reality in the shape of an ordinary nice-looking woman or a cake made according to directions does not look like much. In fact, thanks to the cruelty of the camera, they both look much less than they look to the naked eye. Why should anybody spend money for such plainness? Reality, be it lipstick or roast beef, has to be made into an ideal image to be desirable.

NH

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Nika Hazelton

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Anyone who has ever set out to accomplish an even-domed paté en croûté, a galantine vivacious with dark and light meats and slivered pistachios, a golden turkey, a crème hiding under baroque swirls of whipped cream of breathtaking symmetry, or a cake so tall, so glorious that like all true beauty it makes your knees go weak—in short the kind of marvel portrayed on TV, in the ads and in the pictures of the expensive cookbooks—knows what frustration means. However carefully the directions are followed, the finished product simply does not look like the picture. The unhappy cook broods on whether this is really a warning not to indulge in the sin of pride. On the contrary. It merely tells you that practically all the food pictures are what I shall call a bloody similitude.

Food manufacturers, like those of cosmetics, deal in dreams. When photographed, reality in the shape of an ordinary nice-looking woman or a cake made according to directions does not look like much. In fact, thanks to the cruelty of the camera, they both look much less than they look to the naked eye. Why should anybody spend money for such plainness? Reality, be it lipstick or roast beef, has to be made into an ideal image to be desirable.