Ever wonder why food that is photographed aesthetically looks so appetizing? Apart from the soft focus, everything is about presentation. When you spend a great deal of time cooking a meal worthy of kings, the least you can do is to spend a little bit of time on presentation to create a scintillating effect. Be warned, salivating mouths are a possible side-effect that you may have to deal with!

Presenting (no pun intended!) some top tips for food plating and presentation...

Set the tone with appropriate dinnerware

For your soiree, select dinnerware that is pretty, elegant or plain quirky. Half your battle is won if you have dinnerware that is interesting to the eye. Current trends lean towards square shapes but that’s no reason to avoid any other shape that you like. Try and keep to the tone of your dinner. If it’s a serious, formal evening, breaking out funky shaped, brightly coloured kitschy dinnerware won’t win you any brownie points. If you’re settling in for a fun night in with friends, go all out with your creativity. The key is to use dinnerware that sets the mood for your evening and complements your food.

Pretty it up! Think garnishes

Citrus and parsley or even coriander in ethnic cuisine are used successfully for a variety of purposes. And the easiest way to pretty up your food, is to use a slice of lemon or a sprig of parsley to good effect. That doesn’t mean you just slob on a badly cut slice of lemon or place an overwhelming bunch of parsley onto the plate.

When using any kind of garnish, the easiest rule to follow is to pick an ingredient that has already been used in your dish somewhere. Cilantro or parsley are great for this purpose as they are mildly flavoured and add an aromatic element to the meal. Again, use delicate, small little sprigs of cilantro or any herb you choose to highlight in your meal. If you’re using lemon, you needn’t stick to just the thin round slice – go creative, twist and turn half a lemon slice and set it against the other half flat side. Tomatoes can be quartered and opened up a bit to resemble a flower of sorts. There’s tons you can do if you just think outside the box.

Say hello to colour

Think about it your food visually. What colours go together? Does a plate full of neutral colours look good? Or would you find a plate with reds, greens, golden browns more appealing? Most would find the latter more interesting and adventurous. So when you plate food, place vivid colours next to not so alluring tones. Red peppers, green beans, broccoli, for example, are great to brighten up any palate. Having said that, if you’re eating a spinach entree, accompanying it with green beans and zucchini may be an overkill unless you’ve taken it upon yourself to be an ambassador for being green or eco-friendly!

Saucy styles

Most top chefs use sauces and glazes to great effect. You can create complicated designs on your plate or just use simple lines to create lines for the eye to follow. While you may wonder at the sheer artistry involved, all you really need is a Squeezee bottle, the kind that is used for ketchup and mustard at most restaurants. Load the bottle up with any glaze or sauce you want and you’ll be a whiz too! And if you South Asian cuisine leaves little to be used as sauces, try out decorating your plate with a variety of chutneys and other sauces that our cuisine is known for. The best part about using the Squeezee? You can wipe your plate clean in case there are any unforeseen accidents (read blobs, gooey messes or sauce explosions!)

A fine cut

Using a variety of tools available in most home ware stores, you can cut, dice, julienne and strip almost every vegetable into shapes you like. If you’re going for a paper-thin look, a mandoline is a great cutting tool to help you get wafer thin vegetables. There are all kinds of choppers, dicers and cutters just waiting to help you out! So reach out, be safe and use these God-sends for veggies that are cut a la restaurant.

If you really want to take it up a notch, many community centres, colleges and culinary schools offer courses and workshops in food presentation. Sign up and you’ll be surprised at the tips you’ll learn!