Food

[Deadman Walkin]

I am curious to how many people share my viewpoint on this. When you watch the professional cooking shows (such as Iron Chef and so on) and they make the tiny little dishes, does that small amount of food actually fill you? I have never tried it so I cannot tell from experience, but compared to something that you would cook at home (stirfrys, pasta, etc) it just seems like...no food!

 

[Merciless.Fire]

From knowing my appetite, I'd say no. I like watching Iron Chef to see the Asian guy's enthusiasm as the host.

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

You know that one guy that takes those "If you can completely eat this giant meal you can have it for free" that's me. I've been to fancy restaurants and they aren't even as filling as a good appetizer.

 

[Labyrinth]

In some ways, I imagine it's a way of cost-cutting. In other regards it can be seen as giving the person the opportunity to taste many different things. Japanese cuisine carries the presumption of "Small portions, but so many courses" which implies that there is a wide selection, yet room is left for more.

 

[Donbett1974]

If your still hungry after eating at a restaurant fancy or not never go there again.

 

[Merciless.Fire]

Of course, after you see the price of those restaurants who serve small portioned dishes, you may be full with regret.

 

[PumpItUp]

If you've ever been to a conveyor-style sushi restaurant, you'd have to agree with Labyrinth. They put pieces of sushi onto colored plates and place them on a moving conveyor belt. You pick up the plates as they pass you and the colors determine the price.
Here's a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AzelOisZIo&feature=related

 

[Erana]

Well, quantity or quality.
At good resturants, I always wind up being full, but if you expect a lighter meal, then you shoud snack on some carbs before hand.

 

[xitel]

The point of the tiny dishes in cooking shows like that is a) to speed up production, and b) so that the tasters can eat the entire thing and NOT get full, as they have a lot of other dishes to taste and judge.

 

[Fightgarr]

I like food. I like eating it, I like digesting it and I like pooping it. I've spent this entire year eating shitty food from a meal plan I was forced to buy in order to live in residence. So I don't care how small the portions are, if its real food I appreciate it.

 

[Reaperman Wompa]

Yeah...I'm fat so by nature I could eat nine of those piss weak "courses" and still be hungry. It's a matter of appearance and cost, plus they need the testers to be able to try everything and not fill up.

 

[KungFuMaster]

I am curious to how many people share my viewpoint on this. When you watch the professional cooking shows (such as Iron Chef and so on) and they make the tiny little dishes, does that small amount of food actually fill you? I have never tried it so I cannot tell from experience, but compared to something that you would cook at home (stirfrys, pasta, etc) it just seems like...no food!

As a mostly professional chef (years of experience, but still don't have that "crucial piece of paper" to make it official), I can tell you that there are pretty much two schools of thought on the matter:

1.) There's the poncy bastards on Hell's Kitchen and Top Chef and what-have-you that want to be famous, and

2.) There's people like me who will NEVER achieve any kind of notoriety but still can cook you a meal that could make your eyes water with joy and your heart swell with contentment, and that makes us happy because somebody REAL enjoys our food.

Honestly, food critics and a goodly amount of famous chefs are dickheads and cock-holes (actually, that's not true, ALL accomplished chefs are dickheads and cock-holes), they're the modern art critics of the new millennium, and they're just as pretentious and twice as useless.

Let me put it to you this way, would you rather have a watermelon consume (that's cold watermelon soup for the uninitiated) made by Wolfgang Puck, or a cream based bow-tie pasta dish with minced red onions, fresh sauteed garlic, chopped bacon, fresh basil and a host of other tasty ingredients made by me?

Main bullet point of the presentation:

Don't buy the hype. I worked with a chef who once prepared a dish with sea lamprey. Who the fuck wants to eat that?

 

[Caym]

Last time I went to a very expensive and fancy restaurant, I wasn't hungry anymore about half way through, despite the fact that I usually eat lots. I think it comes from the fact that the dishes are so... tasty. You get so many subtle tastes in just one mouthful that your taste receptors kinda overload and you feel like you've eaten a hundred times more.
That's how it goes in France tho, so maybe it's an extreme example.

 

[PureChaos]

nope, whenever i cook i do BIG portions. i also never understand why they have such a small amount of food then put it on a huge plate. yes, it may look pretty but if you going to have a big plate, fill it!!

 

[justnotcricket]

The way I see it, tiny portions are created to serve one or both of two purposes:

1) Economics - If courses are smaller, you might buy more of them - and the kitchen uses less of an expensive ingredient.

2) Aesthetics - It's actually quite difficult to make a big helping of something look architectural enough to fit in with modern restaurant/cooking show styling.

Cynicism aside, however, the fact remains that there isn't really a comparison to be made between the food you cook at home and the food you get in a restaurant expensive enough to serve truly tiny portions. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the whole point of going to a restaurant (particularly an expensive one) is to get the kind of food you wouldn't *bother* cooking at home, and/or to celebrate some occasion/go on a date/whatever.

I will admit that there is a fine line in portion sizing between delicate and daylight robbery...although don't we all theoretically eat portions that are too big for our metabolisms these days anyway?

 

[Chiasm]

The bread bowl, Why it seems every fancy restaurant with a small amount of highly flavor full food, Always seems to tons of bread on the table. It fills you up before the main course.

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

If the price is too high for the portion size it's not worth it. The food may look pretty but we don't have food for the looks. We have food to eat.

 

[Madaxeman101]

Me. I want to eat one of every animal.

What about a chimp?

 

[NXMT]

Me. I want to eat one of every animal.

http://www.beastfeaster.co.uk/

 

[InsanityWave]

Sushi is rather expensive but for some reason it is filling, well to me it is.