1. Food Presentation Tips

2. Would you rather eat this….

3. Or this?

4. Use COLORFUL foods! Think of bright colors like green, yellow, red, blue, and orange. The more color you have on your plate, the better. This technique has the double benefit of being nutritionally superior. Each color represents a different set of nutrients and when you ‘eat by the rainbow’ you’re ensuring your body gets the widest variety of nutrients possible.

5. Add a colorful garnish. If your dinner itself isn’t that colorful, add a garnish that is. Fresh herbs, spices and zested citrus make great colorful garnishes. For example add some fresh green parsley or cilantro (or other fresh herb) to a meat dish; sprinkle bright red paprika on eggs; add lemon zest with some cracked black and red pepper to salmon.

6. Stack it! Stacking the protein on top of the veggies adds visual appeal. Rather than spreading your food out over your plate in little heaps, stack it. This adds the third dimension of height and can transform a really simple meal into something fancy. 

7. Shape it! Use measuring cups, measuring spoons, ice cream servers, or any other shaped ‘frames’ from basic tools in your kitchen as molds.

8. Choose appropriate dishware. Think about both the shape and the color of your dishware. If your food is nice and bright, a white dish allows the food to pop whereas a colored or patterned dish would visually compete with the food. If the food is a uniform color (e.g., a leek soup), then patterned dish would offset this nicely. For Food Challenge, I recommend WHITE DISHES because you never know what you are going to be working with.

9. Sauce it! Get creative with sauces! If you want to get really fancy, you can even squeeze some sauce on the plate before adding the food.

10. Turn your idea or recipe inside out! Serve a sandwich “open-faced” or “deconstruct” something and serve it in separate pieces in order of how you should eat them.

11. Use your imagination. “You eat with your eyes first.” Don’t be afraid to try or practice new ideas or techniques. Be unique! Food is kind of like art. If you like it, go with it.