Butt Ugly Food

People of a certain vintage (also known as “old people”) came of age with food that tasted amazing but did not necessarily look all that amazing. The phrase “food porn” didn’t exist then. Doing visual culinary artistry on the scale of a Will Goldfarb or Massimo Bottura was simply inconceivable. Fast-forward to the present day and, man, if it doesn’t look amazing, then it probably isn’t. More on this tomorrow when I report on the back-end of a photo shoot I’m doing for Ha’Aretz.

Anyway, today I made a meatloaf. A simple, humble meatloaf. Named after a buddy of mine, Frank McIntosh, in Savannah. It’s got a homemade sourdough bread base to catch all the good drippings. And it’s topped with a North-Carolina style bbq sauce as the glaze. And in between: just a lot of good quality ground beef with onions and peppers and spices. Like I said, nothing fancy. And it tastes great. But frankly, it looks like shit. OK, I’m no photographer, but I don’t care what lighting is used, how you plate it, etc. it still doesn’t cut it. I mean if food porn is today’s visual standard in the kitchen, my meatloaf hearkens back to 42nd Street in the 70s. Go watch The Deuce if the reference eludes you. Folks my age will get it.

I hate to toss out a core comfort food dish based entirely on looks, but I have to admit, I’m seriously considering it.