But It Looks Great on Paper

The Israeli-British chef and writer, Yotam Ottolenghi, likes to say that we first eat with our eyes. It’s a brilliant insight, and Ottolenghi has a particularly acute eye to such bon mot. Here’s the issue for me: Yes, we first eat with our eyes. But we then proceed with our other senses — and subsequently make a more rounded assessment. OK to say the same is true with many other things as well, including relationships?

The Udon salad pictured here is a beautiful plate of food. No doubt about it. All of the various multi-colored julienned vegetables interspersed with the Japanese noodles, washed in an asian-style sauce: It says with the eyes: Perfection. In another apt phrase, Ottolenghi says that the dish smiles at you. And it does. Of course you can hear the big “but” about to intrude.

But it just doesn’t deliver on its visual promise. Which is why it’s not on our soul food menu. Pretty as a picture, but vacuous inside.

Compare that to, say, our baked beans with bbq tofu. Nothing pretty about this dish. In fact, I have struggled mightily to plate it a bit more aesthetically: modest success there. And while I’ve yet to try, I need to photograph it once again, to show it in a better light. Because people do first eat with their eyes. But they do finish with other senses. And this baked bean dish is one of our most popular dishes. Which says a lot about the staying power of dishes of substance. In my opinion.