Hello All. Today’s question: What makes a meal beautiful?
This question is actually more about ones cooking values. There are so many incredible ways to present a meal, and amazing alchemies that can turn foodstuffs into wonders. Personally I think appearance, for the sighted, is another important flavor for a dish. It whets our appetites and can show intentions of love and care put into a dish.
But there are also some shallow and even colonized views of what makes an appealing dish. What higher forms of presentation should be. And along these norms, certain cultures’ foods are seen as ugly or drab in comparison. Soups and stews of all sorts, despite being fundamental to human eating, tend to receive this treatment the most, rendering dishes like daal, African stews or porridges “ugly” and plain in this view. I feel that’s an unfair fate.
First off, I’m a huge supporter of all pot-based meals. But there’s an additional facet here- who are these meals for? Who cooks them and how? How much time to they have? Who are they feeding? To me, food cooked with hearty plants, that is accessible and simple, has an elegance all its own. Beautifully complex platings may have their day, but a meal a homemaker with children can make in their busy day with time to share connecting with their family is more beautiful than an architectural arrangement of crudités or a 100 hour potato. When we see beyond the eyes there is a whole new dimension to food.
Many dishes are seasoned with the heart. Sounds like just poetry but it’s also science- we enjoy food better when we share it with good company. For humanity, eating is a communal experience, and there is always something appealing and elegant to me about nurturing foods that are easy to prepare and clean up after- as a home chef I have a rule that I do not do dishes, and I like to make that job as simple as possible for the person who does. It saves time and water, too.
There is beauty and love in taking Earth’s offerings and accepting their goodness without having to dress it up too much. In preferring things that love you back at a cellular level to those that are beautiful externally but internally hollow and over-processed. In the warmth and comfort shared in a stew or relatively simple dish that dazzles the tastebuds with freshness and richness. At least, while other foods my hold visual attention in the warmer seasons, during Winter everyone seems to remember the magic of soups.
Today I’m sharing instructions more than a recipe, for anyone looking to get into wholesome plant-based cooking, for a sheet pan roast veggie soup. It goes like this…
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