Why Food Tastes Better When Someone Else Makes It

Author: Zach Weber

Two identical sandwiches, the same ingredients, the same sauce, the same bread; the only difference between them is that you made one yourself and the other was made for you, maybe by your mom, maybe by your brother, or your partner. It is no secret which tastes better. But, why? Why does your mom's mac and cheese recipe taste better when she makes it, and is there anything we can do about it? 

The caring that comes with feeding the people around us is intuitive. Making food for another person is about much more than simple sustenance. Wiping the drips of the edge of the plate, placing a garnish intentionally, and making sure the food is at the perfect temperature are all things we naturally adopt when we make food for someone other than ourselves. Creating a vegetable plate for a group of friends is a much different experience than grabbing a bag of dry baby carrots out of the crisper with a jar of ranch dressing and heading for the couch. 

Before we take our first bite, we are feasting on the food in front of us with our eyes. Beautiful food, food full of colours, time, care; all of these elements influence taste before we even begin. Feeding the people around you is how many people around the world show love; it is our first instinct in bad times, it is our first instinct in good times. It is the simplest way to say to someone, “I care about you”. When you feed your recovering family member after they’ve been out sick, or discover a new food to give to your picky toddler, a unique feeling of love and caring is produced that can’t be replicated nearly anywhere else. Chefs are so enthralled with this feeling that they dedicate their entire lives to it; they don’t just feed you, they take care of you. There is a lot more that comes with eating at a restaurant, getting takeout, or having your party catered than just eating. The experience begins the moment your eyes catch the plate, maybe even a glance at a plate passing by to another table. Food, good food, entices, it invites you to be hungry, it wants you to dig in. Beauty is a crucial and underrated part of eating, and it might be more crucial now than ever before. 

To be clear, we’re not saying you need to head off to culinary school to make your weekday meals taste better, but what we are saying is you need to put some love and care into at least 50% of the food you make yourself. A little care is what transforms a box of crackers, a forgotten brick of cheese, and a few handfuls of grapes into an intentional board, full of care, craftsmanship, and love. Forget the fancy skills for a moment and start with a place of caring and intention; it doesn’t need to be perfect. Begin by plating your food, wiping drips that fall to the edges and adding some fresh herbs to the top of your dishes - at first, it doesn’t even need to make sense. Making beautiful food honours the people we feed it to, whether it be ourselves, people we care about, or strangers we’ve only met for the first time. It also honours the labour and love that went into producing that food in the first place. Your produce is begging to be shared with the people around you in a beautiful way. 

We’re all guilty of throwing leftovers on a plate, cold and without care, and that's okay, but food is meant to be enjoyable. When joy is taken off the plate, we are left with something that is far from its full potential. If you struggle to eat vegetables, cutting them and displaying them beautifully on a plate may be your first step to becoming someone who loves to eat crudite (cut vegetables) daily. If those dry baby carrots aren’t inspiring you, making the switch to the rainbow heirloom alternative may create some added excitement. Cutting things in new and interesting ways could keep you coming back for more– cucumbers in rounds and spears, baby sweet peppers left whole and large bell peppers cut into strips. Instead of leaving your hummus in the container that it came in, throw it into your favourite martini glass to get some guaranteed ooohs and ahhhs. 

You don’t need to be a professional chef to create meals that are magical, intentionally putting some love into the plates you serve to the people around you and most importantly to yourself, is the easiest way to take anything you make from good to great, even if it's a microwave meal – throw it on a plate for goodness' sake!! 

The best way to learn how to put food onto a plate in a beautiful way is to look at the way the professionals do it, how they plate the food at your favourite restaurant, what the bowls look like that serve the simple vanilla ice cream, what can you learn from the world around you that you can take back to your kitchen?

At Olive and Fig, we spend every day styling boards with beauty at the top of mind, beautiful ingredients and beautiful plating. From the way we cut our sandwiches, to how we fold our meats, to where we put our vegetables, every decision has to be made with conscious care. This way, we can communicate whatever you are trying to say. Whether its a thank you for flying across the country to come see me, a celebration, or simply telling someone you’re thinking of them. Our boards are heavy with meats and cheeses, but also the emotions they are trying to reflect. Next time you get a board from us, take the same mental notes, where are the meats, how are they folded, what different colours are on the board, what can I learn from this? We encourage you to put that same care into the food you make for yourself, or in a pinch, let us do it for you ;).