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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

The worst chain IMO is Red Lobster. Their TV ads make the portions seem ample, but the reality is far different.

I used to go there until I decided the portion/price ratio was ridiculous. The company has consistently underperformed and I think it is being sold off for what is essentially the real estate value.


61 posted on 05/19/2014 10:04:25 AM PDT by wildbill
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To: ChildOfThe60s

Yikes!


62 posted on 05/19/2014 10:05:48 AM PDT by WhyisaTexasgirlinPA
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To: redhawk.44mag

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

Most of them don’t want to be employed. And think they deserve millions just for being “special”


63 posted on 05/19/2014 10:07:06 AM PDT by varyouga
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To: redhawk.44mag

Actually I don’t think many kids in my area work


64 posted on 05/19/2014 10:07:11 AM PDT by WhyisaTexasgirlinPA
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To: latina4dubya

Haha - that is a good one


65 posted on 05/19/2014 10:07:33 AM PDT by WhyisaTexasgirlinPA
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To: ken in texas

Oh now that would have been bad! At least butter just had a funny taste...not a lasting after effect!


66 posted on 05/19/2014 10:08:32 AM PDT by WhyisaTexasgirlinPA
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To: cripplecreek

I read once that food photographers were the highest paid, followed by cars and glamor, i.e., fashion, cosmetics, etc.


67 posted on 05/19/2014 10:08:50 AM PDT by angry elephant (Endangered species in Seattle)
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To: upbeat5

Because the learned the hardware that “as-is” food tends to look kind of gross when photographed.
http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/index.html


68 posted on 05/19/2014 10:11:37 AM PDT by discostu (Seriously, do we no longer do "phrasing"?!)
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To: upbeat5

They also magnify their products to fill most of the TV screen.

Hamburgers appear as huge complete meals, yet when you buy one in person, it more resembles a cookie sized hamburger. Large steaks on TV turn out to be cell phone sized in person.

Most restaurants are complete rip offs and even the breakfasts they serve which used to be decent deal, fall into the the rip off category. Places like Dennys and McDonald’s used to be great bargains. Now? Forget it.


69 posted on 05/19/2014 10:20:59 AM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: ken in texas

Same thing happened to me in a dark restaurant. Hubby still laughs about it. They also used a whipped horse radish instead of the raw stuff most places use. Looked just like whipped butter.


70 posted on 05/19/2014 10:27:59 AM PDT by sheana
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To: C. Edmund Wright

Really? Someone actually wasted the time to write this article?
Is the authors real name Captain Obvious, or maybe that should be Captain Oblivious.


71 posted on 05/19/2014 10:30:22 AM PDT by Mastador1 (I'll take a bad dog over a good politician any day!)
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To: JimSEA

Not a single street, but an entire district of about 6 blocks or so. If I had a subway map of Tokyo in front of me, I could tell you which one. It was on the line I rode from Kita-Kokubun to Higashi Ginza until the summer of 1994, when I got a job promotion and moved to Kobe.


72 posted on 05/19/2014 10:31:48 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: skeeter

I knew somebody would post a photo from the Whammy Burger scene in Falling Down.


73 posted on 05/19/2014 10:41:05 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: latina4dubya
"i have gone to Taco Bell and asked them to put as much cheese on my taco as they show in the picture... they do... once i took my taco back to the counter because it was so “not filled.” at that time i was a pretty regular customer... the manager had all three of my tacos done again, and they were nicely filled :)"

lol And when you walk in the door, they probably think, "Here comes that lady again."
74 posted on 05/19/2014 10:42:54 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: RegulatorCountry
You're right. I stopped at a KFC drive through some time back - and when I mentioned the receipt was wrong - the clerk said, 'what's the problem, you're saving money'... meaning they handed me an old receipt someone had left on the counter.

I said I didn't want to 'save money' I wanted to pay for what I got. She redid it, then handed me my food. One piece of chicken felt like it had been spit on.

The fast food industry is going to implode if they don't start hiring people with better ethics.

75 posted on 05/19/2014 10:45:10 AM PDT by GOPJ (If dems will "death panel" our vets they'll damn sure death panel the rest of us...)
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To: eartrumpet
"Many years ago I read that steam rising from a hot burger or steak doesn’t photograph well so they blow cigarette smoke onto the food for commercials."

For some reason, those advertising photos of steam rising from the food - especially pizza - turn me off. It just conveys an aura of greasiness or something.
76 posted on 05/19/2014 10:46:41 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: WhyisaTexasgirlinPA

So the sign isn’t a problem then.


77 posted on 05/19/2014 10:50:47 AM PDT by redhawk.44mag
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To: dragnet2
Overheard in a restaurant many years ago. A customer calls the waiter to his table:

Customer (pointing to steak on plate): I can't eat this.

Waiter: Is there a problem with your steak?

Customer: Steak? That's not a steak, that's a quivering piece of fat.
78 posted on 05/19/2014 10:51:27 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: upbeat5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSd0keSj2W8


79 posted on 05/19/2014 10:52:28 AM PDT by cynwoody
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts

Now that’s some trivia most people aren’t familiar with...


80 posted on 05/19/2014 10:54:25 AM PDT by redhawk.44mag
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