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Why restaurant meals don't look like the ads
CNBC.com ^ | May 19, 2014 | Kattie Little

Posted on 05/19/2014 8:51:43 AM PDT by upbeat5

Blowtorches, tweezers and glue: These are just a few of the items used to create those mouth-watering restaurant ads.

To make food look as appealing as possible, food stylists and photographers use a range of instruments, good lighting, fresh ingredients and attention to detail. These tricks of the trade help explain why restaurant meals from the drive-thru often look very different than they do in promotional images.

"Nothing is just plopped down and put in the center like it is when you order at a restaurant," said Jean Ann Bybee, owner of Bybee Photography and co-author of a pair of books about food styling.

During shoots, stylists use tweezers, toothpicks, scissors, small blowtorches, paper, tape, glue, pins, paint, oil and glycerin to manipulate and enhance food, Bybee said.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ads; meals; restaurant
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To: upbeat5
If only McDonalds hamburgers had as much meat in the burgers as the ones in their advertisements...
41 posted on 05/19/2014 9:30:41 AM PDT by Cowboy Bob (They are called "Liberals" because the word "parasite" was already taken.)
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To: skeeter

Michael Douglas doesn’t look at all like that anymore...ate too many tacos


42 posted on 05/19/2014 9:31:25 AM PDT by redhawk.44mag
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To: WhyisaTexasgirlinPA
We don’t eat out as much as we used to because we now live in “Northern Mexico”, otherwise known as the Houston area and I don’t trust the cleanliness of the third world workers.

Reason number 15,672,839 why open borders and multiculturalism are horrible ideas and do not benefit or "enrich" Americans.

43 posted on 05/19/2014 9:40:28 AM PDT by Nea Wood (When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination.-Sowell)
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To: TaMoDee

The movie’s name was Falling Down. It was about an “angry conservative” the problem was most Americans were sick of the issues shown in the movie then and are surely more angry now. Essentially we identified with the guy. Michael Douglas did a good job.


44 posted on 05/19/2014 9:40:31 AM PDT by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: Hugin
They hire models with small hands to hold their burgers for the ads too.

Hmm, wonder if any of those models work in XXX movies /chuckle

45 posted on 05/19/2014 9:41:19 AM PDT by ChildOfThe60s ((If you can remember the 60s.....you weren't really there)
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To: Nea Wood

A local pizza joint has had a sign in their window for “help wanted” for about a month. Yesterday I saw a new banner, stretched out near the highway for help wanted....but this time in spanish.


46 posted on 05/19/2014 9:42:48 AM PDT by WhyisaTexasgirlinPA
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To: WhyisaTexasgirlinPA

When I was in HS in the 60s, all new hires in any food service were required to get tested for TB before starting work.

I’m pretty sure that’s not happening anymore. I assume it would be considered racist and discriminatory towards illegals.

The TB rate in SE Florida is bad. Duh. Pack your lunch if you’re driving through there.


47 posted on 05/19/2014 9:45:10 AM PDT by ChildOfThe60s ((If you can remember the 60s.....you weren't really there)
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To: Hugin
They hire models with small hands to hold their burgers for the ads too.


48 posted on 05/19/2014 9:45:20 AM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Only Liberals can look at an amendment that says "shall not be infringed" and see blank parchment.)
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To: Vigilanteman

I never saw anything like the plastic food displays in Tokyo! Isn’t there a street there devoted to many manufacturers of fake food?


49 posted on 05/19/2014 9:45:52 AM PDT by JimSEA
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To: upbeat5

50 posted on 05/19/2014 9:47:02 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: WhyisaTexasgirlinPA
I can see how that would work - we have a family joke about a time, many years ago, while flying, my sister was served a little cup of whipped butter and she thought it was whipped cream and downed it before my parents could stop her (yeah she was like that) - the look on her face was priceless to the family. Served her right for thinking she was going to eat dessert before her dinner.

this reminds me of something i did... i was staying at a nice upscale hotel in San Francisco (in Nob Hill)... we ordered room service for breakfast... among all the food was a small bowl of beautifully whipped butter... i put it on my toast and could not believe how good this butter was... so creamy... so milky... then as i was eating, i notice these little pats of butter, and i thought, why would they serve these little pats of butter when they served this wonderfully whipped butter in this bowl... turned out it was not butter but whipped cream for the hot chocolate... :)

and i have to say, it was not only the best butter i had ever tasted (which in the end, it was not butter) but it was also the best whipped cream i had ever tasted... not too sweet... just fresh and creamy...

51 posted on 05/19/2014 9:47:38 AM PDT by latina4dubya (when i have money i buy books... if i have anything left, i buy 6-inch heels and a bottle of wine...)
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To: WhyisaTexasgirlinPA

All the English speaking kids around there are employed? Good for you guys.


52 posted on 05/19/2014 9:47:47 AM PDT by redhawk.44mag
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To: ChildOfThe60s
Hmm, wonder if any of those models work in XXX movies /chuckle

Possibly...but you would be amazed at the overall dimensions of the most popular 'actresses' in the genre. Most are barely 5 ft. tall.

53 posted on 05/19/2014 9:50:52 AM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Only Liberals can look at an amendment that says "shall not be infringed" and see blank parchment.)
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To: Cowboy Bob

Have some fun. Go into Mc Butts and order a Big Mac with quarter pounder meat. Get extra sauce. It’s pretty good and really looks like the picture if the meat is fresh. I had a good time with this when traveling around the country. Got my first one in Washington NC. The kid at the counter tripped off line like a short circuiting Stepford Wife. Later in Morris ILL. the manager told me she was sorry but McConalda just didn’t make those. I chuckled and told her that southerners were smarter than Yankees, telling her about Washington NC. Don’t you know I got my sandwich!


54 posted on 05/19/2014 9:50:52 AM PDT by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: WhyisaTexasgirlinPA
... sister was served a little cup of whipped butter and she thought it was whipped cream...

Years ago, while dining out with my brother the meal was served with a small cup of horseradish for use with the prime rib. He thought it was sour cream for the baked potato... and also ended up with a priceless look on his face after the first bite.

55 posted on 05/19/2014 9:52:41 AM PDT by ken in texas
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To: redhawk.44mag
One of the first things they told us white guys in culinary school was "Learn kitchen spanish". There's even a little 'Kitchen Spanish' book that chefs can get to help with that.

My spanish is very much kitchen, and very little Castillian.

/johnny

56 posted on 05/19/2014 9:53:32 AM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: GraceG

They sure used oatmeal in the 60s when I worked there. Of course oatmeal won’t hurt you like some things that could be used to stretch meat. We were to use no more than one ounce of meat per taco (the boss would occasionally weigh them to check). And only a small pinch of cheese “to add color”. But everything on the menu was 19¢.


57 posted on 05/19/2014 9:53:43 AM PDT by hanamizu
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To: upbeat5

McD’s still makes me belch, no matter how pretty their stuff is made to look. ( never used to. And Burger King sill no problem)


58 posted on 05/19/2014 9:54:30 AM PDT by faithhopecharity ((Brilliant, Profound Tag Line Goes Here, just as soon as I can think of one..))
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To: upbeat5

I’m glad they mentioned gelatin. It’s put in any drink to make the whipped cream or whatever stay on top. Woe to the person who tries to drink it after the shoot.

There’s also something for melted cheese—I don’t think I ever learned what—as melted cheese congeals immediately under the lights.

Once at a shoot for some kind of dip, an idiot said, “Looks like cement.” The client was standing right there. All at once it looked like cement to everyone and had to be done a different way. $$$

I did the same thing one time with a bunch of stuffed tomatoes. The way they were arranged, it looked like a tomato parade. Everyone cracked up and that was all anyone could see after that point. Fortunately, I was the client that time so I didn’t get the stinkeye from anyone.

One major rule: Don’t ever let the person who cooked the food be the stylist. They know it has good ingredients and tastes good, so they are incapable of seeing it with fresh eyes.


59 posted on 05/19/2014 10:00:51 AM PDT by firebrand
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To: upbeat5
Reminds me of the old George Carlin routine:

I was what they call a "fussy eater". "He is fussy" "He is a fussy eater". "Fussy eater" is a euphemism for.....big pain in the ass! I mean, if I didn't like something, I told them! Picked up my food and said: "I don't like that!" "Did you make this?" "I don't like it!" "Why?" They wanted reasons! Well, you don't always have a reason! "I don't know!" Then they would try to corner me with logic... "How do you know you don't like it.....if you've never even tried?" "It came to me in a dream!" Some things don't look right! "I don't like that, Ma!" "Don't look right to me!" "Did you make that?" "Is there a picture of it in the cookbook?" "I bet it don't look like that!"

60 posted on 05/19/2014 10:02:34 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
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