Spring 2018: See Food

spring 2018

d is oub su l e! e !

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As I See It Now 5 From Penn to the professional kitchen... reflections.

Modernist Cuisine 10 Learn all about the science behind that fancy food you ate at that fancy restaurant!

Eating with Your Eyes 14 A South Korean food trend that goes against what we here at Penn Appétit love most – eating!

From Paper to Screen 16 From Julia Child to Tasty, you’ll never not know how to cook that recipe!

The Perks and Politics of the Cheese Pull 18 What’s your favorite food hashtag?

The Secrets Behind Designing the Perfect 20 Restaurant Aesthetic Discover the secrets behind that key intangible factor, the restaurant atmosphere.

Latte Art 22 What’s behind the pretty patterns in your coffee milk? Quality, care, and passion.

Blackout 24 How embarrassing could a meal in the dark possibly be?

Ugly Food Standards 25 Bruised tomatoes? Squashed peaches? Soft bananas? They have feelings too.

Food for Your Eyes 26 Your parents always told you to eat your carrots – were they right?

“Feast Your Eyes” 32 The essentials of plating, adapted for your home kitchen.

The Shed at Dulwich 34 Read about the best restaurant in England, if it can even be called that.

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spring ‘18 double issue

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AS I SEE IT NOW Dining out has always been special. There’s just something otherworldly that blurs the whole experience, encompassing everything from getting greeted by the host to that last, bittersweet bite of dessert. But behind the veil of culinary magic lies something more–the people, the chefs, behind it all–that, for most, is never lifted. But lifted it must be, and the perspective on food that dissolving the barrier brings is as varied as the number of restaurants in Philadelphia.

Here, two passionate cooks risked burns, insults, and arduous hours to experience this other world first hand. Put bluntly, they entered the professional kitchen as unpaid interns--stages, in restaurant lingo--and picked up scrapes, techniques, and stories along the way. Their perspectives upon their return couldn’t be more unique.

BY RACHEL PROKUPEK AND XANDER GOTTFRIED PHOTOS BY ETHAN WU

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AS I SEE IT NOW

BY XANDER GOTTFRIED Food has always meant magic to me. Home cooking was something I could always look forward to after a long day because I knew something magical would be waiting for me at the dinner table. When my parents cooked, all I saw was the pretty colors, as if seeing the output from a prism. As I began to cook for myself I learned to see from a chef’s perspective. I saw the input, the beautiful white light that becomes that melee of colors. Instead of seeing the ingredients distorted, recolored, and arranged on the plate in their edible spectrum, I saw it pre-prism, and the experience was only more magical. Being able to cook for myself and understand the care that goes into the prism-like process was the magic in cooking. To continue my exploration of food, I started working in a restaurant kitchen. But, alas. The professional kitchen has taught me much—from how to properly salt to how my bar for “that’s enough fat,” was much too low. It has not, however, shown me more magic. In fact, it has ruined the magical experience that used to be dining out.

Before I entered the kitchen, all food was magical. As a passionate home cook, I pour my heart and soul into my cooking, whether it be for me, a small family meal, or a grand dinner party. My view down on the ingredients as they are prepared is one of a parent gazing fondly down at an infant, adoring the ingredients into their grown up configurations. When I ate out, I had the picturesque idea that every plate was as carefully and lovingly put together, as if the chef poured his spirit into it as well. As if to the chef, every plate was a treasured newborn. I was wrong.

This care and adoration only happens when chefs first design dishes. But every time after that first development, every single time a dish is actually served, I’ve learned that my picturesque view no longer applies. Food is almost always haphazardly thrown together: crudo is hastily arranged on the plate in some preconceived pattern, bread is grilled so aimlessly that half of the orders are burned on the first attempt, slaw is draped over meat with such indifference to the drops of liquid all over the plate that if it wasn’t for the expediter carefully wiping them away the plate would be a pockmarked mess. Your food is not created by someone watching over a growing child but by someone just doing his job. That magical perspective I take when cooking at home— which translates to a magical feeling when eating—is simply not present in the professional setting.

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But then what creates the magic for those who crave eating out, who find the restaurant experience far superior to anything they accomplish at home? There is a mask drawn over the diner’s eyes, and mine has been lifted. The restaurant atmosphere creates a faux sense of traveling far away to a place where there is enough care to qualify as magical. However, that only works if you forget the times during staff meal when chefs and servers gather around your empty tables to scarf down versions of what you’ll be having for dinner. A tablecloth-less and paper napkins-full scene awaits. Food piles unattractively on plates, cans of caffeine pass around, and a ubiquitous hint of cigarette smoke pervades the restaurant. No, it certainly cannot be atmosphere which gives the restaurant its allure, at least not anymore. Not once you know what really goes on. Unlike the prism of cooking, once you’re in the restaurant there is no more white light. Only a dirty, displeasing view.

So is it the food that blinds us all? Forget the flavor. That can be achieved with fat, salt, and quality ingredients, no magic needed. There is no art. One night during service, I asked one of the line cooks how I should arrange the taco shells in the oven.

Stacked or spread out, top shelf or bottom?

I asked when to take croutons out of the fryer. All I got for an answer was the hasty reply that he didn’t care. There was no anger in his voice. All I could detect was pure lack of concern. He was just doing his job. It will still look and taste amazing thanks to the recipe. But line cooks are only coloring in the lines of an excellent black and white drawing. The art is fake, a copy. There is no magic left in that.

I have been to many truly delicious restaurants. But after experiencing the dichotomy between restaurant and home cooking, pure flavor no longer interests me.

I can buy a restaurant cookbook and make the food for myself, from the magical side of the prism. Not being rushed, forced, or told how to paint the dish, I can make it mine.

It doesn’t have to be a worthless copy. The ephemeral quality I used to associate with restaurants does occasionally exist, depending on the atmosphere of the kitchen. But more often than not, nothing special goes on behind those mysterious, closed doors.

Even open kitchens, which seem so magical, are simply better at disguising their faults and lack of care.

My experiences have emphasized the magic of cooking at home. So find that time to cook, to really cook--you’ll love the amazing new perspective.

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AS I SEE IT NOW

BY RACHEL PROKUPEK I’ll be honest, it’s hard to accurately describe my relationship with food in words. It’s more of a feeling – like a secret that only I know and can’t possibly share with anyone else. A transcendental feeling, really, that fuels my drive, my passion, to completely immerse myself in the culinary world.

Growing up, I was fortunate enough to have parents that appreciated good food and were avid home cooks. They cooked seasonally, highlighting the ingredients from our garden – a homemade pesto and caprese salad, for example – or from the farmer’s market just a few blocks away.

My family also enjoyed eating out and exploring new restaurants, and it is a habit I have tried to maintain on my own in college. Eating out added to the allure of everything; I quickly discovered that I wanted to learn more about the plating, the techniques, the creativity behind each dish. I used my time dining at restaurants to learn as much as I could, absorbing everything I saw and tasted, but I still craved more.

I decided that, in order to satiate myself, I needed to work in a kitchen (or two). I bought my first kitchen knife, donned my chef whites, and worked in two different kitchens, an edgy Mexican eatery and a fine dining French restaurant – both of which have shown me more than any dining experience ever could. Looking at the food from the other side of the pass, I smelled, saw, and tasted every detail that goes into a dish. My picturesque view of eating out only grew stronger – I gained a new appreciation, a new perspective, one I never had before. I learned how to plate Michelin star-worthy dishes.

I learned how to respect ingredients and to handle them with care. I learned how much fat, salt, and acid it takes to balance a dish. I learned how to be creative and actually use my palate instead of strictly following a recipe.

Not only did I gain an insider’s view and an appreciation for the food I order at restaurants, but I also gained an immense appreciation for the line cooks and chefs who dedicate their lives to the kitchen. Yes, line cooks are playing the service game. They need to repeatedly and consistently produce dishes for diners days and nights on end. They don’t have all the time in the world, like they would in their own kitchens at home. But I argue that the same care 8

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and passion, magic if you will, goes into any and every restaurant dish they create.

One afternoon while prepping for dinner service, a line cook pulled me aside to show me his leek roulades – braised leeks carefully rolled up to enclose a stuffing, wrapped in plastic wrap to be slowly cooked in hot water. He shared his techniques to get no wrinkles in the plastic wrap, which would affect the shape of the roulade.

Another time before service, I saw a book on the pass and asked the chef what it was. He stopped what he was doing and showed me The Flavor Bible, which lists virtually every ingredient and what it pairs well with. Think lemon, sole, and butter, or veal, red wine, and caramelized onions. The Flavor Bible is how the chef invents dishes and finds the perfect flavor combinations.

I immediately bought my own copy after service that night and keep it in my room to this day. I open it when I want to experiment in the kitchen and create a new dish with the ingredients I have on hand.

I know that every kitchen is different, but the two that I have worked in showed me how much the chefs and line cooks care about the food they serve customers. They taught me how to cook with creativity, with precision, and with passion. My time in the kitchen was absolutely transcendental, and there is no other world like the culinary world. I have so much respect for the kitchen, and I gained skills that I apply almost every day in school (discipline, time management, and handling stress, to name a few). Now, when I cook for myself, I use what I learned from chefs in my own food, adding the same passion at home. I use the same precision and care when handling my ingredients, I use the same fat-salt-acid balance instinct I learned Day 1, and I use the same combination of technique and creativity to make my dishes simple but tasty.

Before I worked in kitchens, all food was special: both the food my family and I cooked at home and the food we ate while dining out. Working in the kitchens showed me food from the other side, from the chef’s perspective.

I gained the skills to use my palate and creativity in ways I couldn’t before, which makes it all the more special when I see restaurants doing the same thing.

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modernist cuisine

BY BLAZE BERNSTEIN PHOTOS BY NOEL ZHENG

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The work has clearly earned its title as the most influential and noteworthy cookbook of the twenty-first century.

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hat should you do if you really like cooking and you’re willing to spend a few million dollars?

Consider buying a warehouse and transforming it into a kitchen lab to create and test nearly 250 recipes to use in your own cookbook. However, chances are you don’t have a few million dollars lying around. Even if you did, it would be hard to match what Nathan Myhrvold accomplished in writing the pièce de résistance that looked at cooking in an entirely new light Modernist Cuisine: The Art of Science and Cooking.

What should you do if you really like cooking and you’re willing to spend a few hundred dollars? Consider buying a copy of Modernist Cuisine, possibly the most influential (and definitely the most expensive) cookbook of the twenty-first century.

The term “modernist” or “modernist cuisine” in the title doesn’t refer to any set of dishes in particular, but is rather defined as a “cultural … revolution” encompassed by two key principles.

The first principle is to always work towards executing dishes in technically innovative and exact ways while achieving exquisite, unmatched taste.

The second principle is to advance the culinary arts by finding new ways to apply analytical thinking skills and creativity to the art of cuisine. In sum, Modernist Cuisine is not a normal cookbook filled with just recipes and photos, but rather, the tome serves as an encyclopedia or a roadmap to a new, unprecedented way of thinking about food.

In five hardcover volumes (History and Fundamentals, Techniques and Equipment, Animals and Plants, Ingredients and Preparations, and Plated-Dish Recipes) and a spiral bound recipe booklet small enough to keep with you in the kitchen, Modernist Cuisine covers everything imaginable.

Over the course of 2500 pages, it delves into topics from why you should be cooking sous vide, to the science behind gels and foams, to a recipe for choucroute royale. But, the most impressive part of the book is, without question, the photography, which features some of the most memorable and unique food photographs ever captured. Imagine slicing a wok in half, while you were steaming broccoli, and seeing exactly what was happening, down to every little droplet of steam.

Or doing the same to the barbeque on which you’re cooking burgers and examining the sizzling oil and crackling fire. In some unfathomable way, that’s exactly what’s photographed for 36 of the images in the book. These images are used to illustrate topics throughout the book as Modernist Cuisine explores the in-depth science of different food preparations and the culinary history behind them.

The attention to detail in Modernist Cuisine draws from the analytical skills Myhrvold developed through his own career path. After attending UCLA at the age of 14, he attained a net worth of nearly 650 million dollars as Microsoft’s chief technology officer.

During his time at Microsoft, he took a temporary leave of absence to move to France and earn his culinary degree.

Eventually, Myhrvold’s love for cooking won out, and he left Microsoft to found Intellectual Ventures Laboratory, a company that combines his love of cooking and food photography. He desperately wanted to find a book on sous vide cooking, and when he couldn’t, he decided to write his own. To realize his vision, he constructed The Cooking Lab, a warehouse in Washington, which later became dedicated to testing and perfecting all of the content published in Modernist Cuisine.

The Cooking Lab continues to turn out modernist recipe after recipe, even today, as the Modernist Cuisine family grows. Following the first book in the series, The Cooking Lab published Modernist Cuisine at Home, a book perfect for the at-home chef who might not have the money to purchase the full six volume version (or the crazy contraptions used to actually recreate the recipes). The only other book currently in print in the Modernist Cuisine line is The Photography of Modernist Cuisine, which covers how the photographs in the first two books were taken and displays an additional two hundred photographs not seen in the first two books. However, keep your eyes peeled, because in March 2017, The Cooking Lab is coming out with its newest book: Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Bread. Based on their blog postings, this book will definitely be as in-depth as the first (if not more so) as they use 3-D scanners to look at the inside of loaves and work to perfect bread recipes in their newly-renovated

kitchen-warehouse.

As such an ardent admirer of Nathan Myhrvold, I hesitate to belittle his masterpiece by calling it merely book, or to suggest that it is not worth the 500 dollar price tag. The work has clearly earned its title as the most influential and noteworthy cookbook of the twenty-first century. Its depth in research and stunning photography make it unlike any other work out there. However, I recognize that the five hundred dollar price tag for a new set is out of reach for most cooks. Luckily you can view the book in Van Pelt’s Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books, and Manuscripts. The rich secrets are definitely worth the price, or in the very least, the trip to Van Pelt.

BLAZE BERNSTEIN Blaze Bernstein’s contributions to Penn Appétit were invaluable; a dedicated writer, copy editor, recipe developer, and cook, and friend. He had an eye for flavor and for prose, constantly developing new recipes and writing pieces for the magazine. His famous kombucha and bread recipes still live within our pages, and his passion for food and writing will endure in magazines to come. penn appétit

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Eating With Your Eyes - or, eyes that are BIGGER than your stomach

BY LYDIA KIM PHOTO BY MARIA MURAD AND CAROLYN BARR

It may seem a little strange – dinner for one on the fourth floor of a mid-priced apartment in the city, a bowl of baby carrots supplemented by a glass of water set in front of a weathered Macbook Pro. It may seem a little sad – watching someone else eat almost 10,000 calories of fried meat, burgers, and noodles all in one sitting while you chomp on a carrot, a police siren in tune with the exaggerated slurping playing through the laptop speakers. But vicarious eating is just yet another food trend that has hit the internet by storm, a Korean food phenomenon that has transformed the social constructs of eating as we know it. Dubbed “mukbangs” (a Korean playon-words that roughly translates to “eating broadcasts” pronounced “muckbahngs”) this trend allows us to examine the relationship between the concept of feeling full and eating to be with company versus the necessity of sustenance.

After all, why eat at all when you can eat with your eyes… …is the exact sentiment we don’t want to encourage, but perhaps it’s important to analyze why this trend even exists.

In South Korea, millions tune into YouTube or other streaming sites live every evening to watch their favorite mukbang hosts make thousands of dollars per night through viewer donations, advertisements, and sponsorships. But what’s really behind the insane popularity?

For one, dining is inherently social.

Eating has historically been framed as a group activity, with social norms centered around sharing a meal with good

company. Eating with others is often irreplaceable in terms of conversation and companionship. Ashley Sprankles, a California-based mukbanger, mentions, “A lot of people are working and they don’t have someone to sit down with for dinner at night and it fills a void.

They’re lonely, and they want to eat with someone.”

What else? Watching others partake uplifts the self. Traci Mann, Ph.D, a professor of social and health psychology at the University of Minnesota, explains, “It makes your own virtues apparent because you’re not doing that. The people in these videos are doing something worse than you would ever do, and that makes you feel better about yourself in comparison. Maybe you think ‘I ate too much today, but I didn’t eat that much.’

Maybe it’s ‘I wish I could binge that much, but I can’t, so I’m going to watch this guy binge instead.’”

Regardless of the reason, undoubtedly mukbangs and similar food trends have affected the way that we define what it traditionally means to eat. As clean eating and fitness trends continue to gain momentum, perhaps mukbangs satisfy the need to at least watch what one wants to do. Hence the vicarious lifestyle. Harnessing the power of technology to fulfill basic necessities is an underdeveloped idea, and it’s difficult to eradicate the problems that come with it. Many have criticized mukbangs for promoting binge eating (watching a stranger demolish half a dozen Big Mac meals is wild) and encouraging poor eating habits (eat 10,000 calories

or don’t eat at all). Mukbangs, however, only continue to gain momentum as the accessibility of the internet and foreign content allows for a global spread. A quick look at our own doors is testament to this claim.

The real intrigue behind this trend doesn’t come from what’s occurring in East Asian countries — rather, let’s look at the effect mukbangs are having at home. In Asian-American college communities where many second-generation students still have close ties to their ethnic roots, the adoption of some cultural trends is almost inevitable. Hain Yoon, a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, is quick to admit that she’s an avid fan of watching mukbangs, tuning in multiple times a week to watch Youtubers like Trisha Paytas and Hinoshita Yuka wolf down thousands of calories in one sitting.

“I tend to only watch junk food mukbangs because they help satisfy my junk food cravings … but more than anything else I think that mukbangs are essentially a double-edged sword. While they provide some entertainment, I do feel like they do help promote bad eating behavior, especially because most mukbang hosts are pretty and petite girls.

The fact that they can eat so much probably promotes misconceptions of what are nutritional dos and don’ts.”

Such are the ending notes we should be left with. While eating with your eyes may seem just as effective, don’t forget—there are just some things that are irreplaceable, and actual eating is one of them.

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From Paper to Screen

BY MARIA MURAD PHOTO BY MARIA MURAD

Imagine this: Paula Dean’s buttery hands flipping back and forth from the selfie to the main camera, attempting to get the perfect aerial view of her butter-filled cherry cobbler, topped with butter streusel glazed in butter with a side of whipped butter. Once her fingers finally manage to capture this fat-infused masterpiece, she has to decide what filter to choose. This modern-day dilemma is the result of a social media age that is taking over the way we see food.

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The ten second Snapchat recipes we watch today are vastly different from the cookbooks our grandparents scoured in the hopes of finding the perfect menu for family dinner. The way we are seeing, learning about, and cooking food is changing as our digital age eradicates hard copy recipes. Too often during lectures I’ve noticed students with multiple tabs open: notes, readings, and Tastemade--a site with short, minuteor-less cooking demonstrations. This shift in culinary sharing makes food

more accessible to social-media users worldwide. At the same time, it changes the way chefs create recipes to be shared online to receive more publicity.

Numerous restaurants use Instagram and Facebook to advertise their dishes in #foodporn fashion, but what about the chefs who are sharing their recipes online? More people are turning to their laptops and phone screens to watch cooking shows. People have neither the time nor the pa tience to sit through a thirty-minute cooking show spoon

feeding them step-by-step instructions on how to make family dinner. Now we can get the same meal shown to us in under a minute.

The proliferation of phones in society has its pros and cons, but in this context, it’s important to note how much more accessible recipe sharing and food inspiration are. It’s easier now to share across the globe. Different food cultures, ideas, fusions, and trends can spread from one corner to the other with ease. Anyone with Snapchat can pull out their phone

and learn how to bake gluten-free pizza, a three-tiered cake, or a bruschetta, all with little to no effort. High-quality food is no longer unattainable.

With this newfound accessibility comes a need for chefs to adapt to today’s new system of garnering a fanbase in order to make money. Tastemade, Tiny Kitchen, and BuzzFeed Food (spedup, how-to cooking videos on various social media platforms) all entrance us with their quick concoctions. To make these videos, chefs must take upscale,

complicated recipes and compress them into under a minute. As a result, seemingly intimidating dishes like macaroons and baked Alaskas don’t seem so bad after all.

Although Paula Dean may struggle with the anti-butter nature of the selfie cam, our new social media age of food allows the culinary arts to break boundaries and reach audiences it never could in the cookbook era. You know what this means: more butter recipes!

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The Perks and Politics of the Cheese Pull

BY GRACE LEAHY PHOTO BY MARIA MURAD

#Foodporn inches closer to a complete internet takeover with every passing day. With almost 150 million recorded Instagram posts, it is impossible to escape the temptation of stretchy, farm-fresh cheeses, perfectly pinched pie crusts, chocolate-dipped Italian pastries, and impeccably plated… rainbow bagels?

When posts look too good to be true, they traverse the internet via likes, shares and recommended content. In other words, more likes means more publicity. In the ever-growing vortex that is Instagram, the number of #foodporn posts surges as photos compete to be more colorful, more original, and more, well, consumable. Nowadays, our 18

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short, social media-shaped attention spans only allow us a glimpse of standout spots and sought-after trends. We tend to read less, and sometimes, we don’t read at all. So when it comes to culinary business, descriptive images are crucial to effectively promoting content.

The question is – from a marketing standpoint – how much of a role does #foodporn play in attracting customers?

After scouring Instagram for the prettiest Philadelphia accounts, I realized one of my favorites lies just on the border of Penn’s campus – Beiler’s Donuts. Hannah Eshleman, the marketing/social media manager, who runs the account and takes the photos, gave me

some insider information on Beiler’s Insta-marketing success.

Do people often post photos of your food?

What’s the most popular dish? The most pretty?

“Our #beilers hashtag has about 2,200 tags, and #beilersdonuts is almost at 3,000. Our donuts are visually appealing and that definitely makes us very ‘Instagramable’. There is a lot of interaction with our Facebook and Instagram and it has been a lot of fun to be able to hear people’s feedback, see their hilarious donut puns, and drool over their beautiful photos.”

Have you noticed any changes in demographic or increases in popularity for a certain dish due to Instagram?

“People love to photograph the Maple Bacon and the Fruity Pebbles, and so by default, people come in to try those because they saw them online. Insider did a video of our location in Reading Terminal Market and our Fruity Pebbles donut was heavily featured. It became so popular after that.”

you’re having in the break room, Lisa.’ A Maple Bacon donut, on the other hand, is gold. If people post it, their friends see it and suddenly, they’re craving donuts.

It’s social media magic. Food presentation has always mattered, but it’s more important now than ever. Not only does it affect the immediate consumer, it is documented and shown to all of their friends, family, and random acquaintances.”

Do you think the visual and aesthetic value of food is increasing?

“100% yes. People love to photograph their food. I mean, let’s be frank: sometimes it’s annoying. ‘No one wants to see the whole wheat turkey sandwich that

As is the case with Beiler’s, Instagram-ability can be a huge asset to everyone involved – I know I can always fall back on a good slow-mo cheese pull when the times get tough – but there’s definitely risk in judging a book by its

cover. #Foodporn promises a delicious and sexy food experience, continually setting the bar higher for businesses who now must make sure their food’s aesthetic can compete. Young hires and restaurant veterans must achieve social-media proficiency because in the current culinary climate, it’s the standard, and businesses may have trouble staying afloat without it.

If people continue to show such an affinity for food, porn, and social media, #foodporn’s crusade toward world domination will be easy as pie.

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The Secrets Behind Designing the

perfect

Restaurant Aesthetic

BY SHAE CHAMBERS PHOTO BY MORGAN THWEATT Overhead, amber lights that resemble upside down tea cups hang from countless chandeliers, each shining through perfectly dim lighting like stars in a beige-colored sky. On walls of worn, exposed brick hang foggy mirrors and black and white photographs, none the same as the other. On the left, an expansive bar with a wooden countertop, fully stocked with glass bottles, each varying in both color and size. On the right, intimate booths are lined with emerald green upholstery. Mismatched seats line oval, circle, and square shaped tables, and a small collection of leather armchairs encompass a glass coffee table in the corner. As I make my way into Harp & Crown, yet another one of well-known Philly chef Michael Schulson’s genius creations, I can’t help my eyes from wandering around my magical surroundings. I feel as though I have stepped into another universe, one spanning 12,500 square feet and emanating palpable vibes of vintage splendor, homespun appeal, and cozy warmth.

I sip on my Ruby Slippers cocktail (a flawless combination of citrus vodka, elderflower, strawberry, and champagne), and wonder to myself: What exactly goes into creating a restaurant aesthetic of such a high caliber? In the hopes of 20

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uncovering the secrets behind designing the perfect restaurant interior, I set out to find some answers. After some careful research, I was able to come up with a few aesthetic necessities. Although there are a number of factors that can make or break a space, these elements are among the few that are key to constructing and maintaining the carefully cultivated mood of a well-designed restaurant.

Lighting Elaborate and unique lighting is one trend that is taking restaurants by storm in 2018. In this day and age, more and more individuals are turning to their phones to document their restaurant experiences. As a result, interior designers have placed a special emphasis on installing flattering lighting that places both people and their dishes in the most photogenic environments possible.

Greenery Plants and greenery have the ability to put a whimsical spin on any ordinary space. In the past few years, a number of restaurants have decided to “go green” in more ways than one, incorporating hanging plant fixtures and even living walls, decorated with winding vines and

growth, into their dining areas. This newfound focus on plants not only adds to the visual appeal of a room, but also plays into the farm-to-table philosophies of many up-and-coming restaurants where herbs and other cooking ingredients are actually grown on-site.

Custom Art Fixtures Custom art fixtures have the potential to either positively or negatively impact the aesthetic of a restaurant. Paintings, murals, and other quirky art pieces can transform a dull, unremarkable space into one with an air of distinct personality. In recent times, an increasing number of designers and restaurateurs are collaborating with artists to create oneof-a-kind pieces that can’t be replicated. However, it is important that these pieces add to a diner’s eating experience, rather than distract from it. In most cases, less is actually more. Though statement art pieces are normally limited in number, they highly influence the entirety of a restaurant’s aesthetic Next time you find yourself dining out with friends, be sure to take special note of your surroundings and keep an eye out for these restaurant aesthetic musts.

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Latte Art

BY NINA SELIPSKY PHOTO BY MINNA ZHENG AND JUSTINE DE JESUS

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Raised in Seattle, it’s safe to say I grew up around coffee. Pike Place, a public market overlooking the downtown waterfront, is home to the first Starbucks in the world. Each day during the summer tourist season, visitors line up outside the shop, willing to wait to glimpse into the historic location. It really does look like any other Starbucks in the country-little circular tables, a cream and sugar station, and baskets overflowing with new roasts and blends-- but there is still something momentous about stepping into the spot where the coffee sensation began.

Here in Philadelphia, there is still a Starbucks on every corner (sometimes two).

And there is nothing wrong with the convenience of grabbing a quick latte on the way to class. But every once in a while, it can be nice to branch out and try one of the smaller shops in the historic city we get to call home.

On a February Wednesday afternoon, I ventured into Old City, known for its cobblestone streets and charming shops and cafés. I stopped in at Menagerie Coffee: a homey, brick-walled space on 3rd Street just around the corner from the Ben Franklin museum and Penn’s Landing.

Menagerie has a vibrant Instagram account where the baristas, all trained in latte art, post shots of their creations. The photos feature everything from a green matcha Eagles latte to a Saint Patrick’s Day Lucky Charms cappuccino.

I had the chance to sit down with one of the owners, Elysa DiMauro, to discuss why latte art is so popular and how to create a drink that is aesthetically pleasing-- and actually tastes good.

“The most important thing about latte art and one of the biggest reasons we do it is that people taste with their eyes first,” Elysa said. “So if you order

a latte or a cappuccino or a mocha, if you walk up and see your drink and think, ‘Oh, that looks really cute,’ it already tastes good because of the visual sensation. It’s no different than a really exquisitely plated meal at a restaurant.

It’s the same concept.”

In an age when people take photos of their food for their Snapchat stories before taking one bite, the aesthetic aspect of food-- even coffee-- is at the forefront of customers’ minds. However, visual satisfaction and taste have to intersect for a combination that hits the taste buds in the same way it draws the eye.

“I’m not so invested in people’s latte art being perfect, but I want their milk to be really good,” Elysa said. “When you steam the milk, it should be properly textured. If it’s textured properly and it’s the right temperature, someone who can pour latte art should be able to pour something really beautiful. If you can’t even steam your milk right, there’s no way you’re going to be able to pour even a heart in a drink.”

One of the ways Menagerie baristas spice up their milk is a fall specialty drink, the Turmeric Milk Cortado-- a fun twist more unique than the ubiquitous pumpkin spice latte.

Elysa says demand for the drink is high because not only does the spice have a good flavor, but it also adds some color to the beverage.

“A regular cortado is equal parts espresso and milk, and for this drink we actually steep the milk in turmeric and cinnamon,” Elysa said. “We strain all the spices out of it, but it still retains that golden color and you can really taste the spices in it as well. It’s less artificial than other popular fall drinks, because you’re using spices instead of some kind of pumpkin syrup.”

As a Seattleite, I thought I knew everything there was to know about coffee. However, never before have I given such close thought to the texture and temperature of the milk in my latte, or the training and time baristas put into creating aesthetically pleasing foamy art. The next time I’m craving caffeine, I’m going to dare myself to step out of my normal routine and onto a new cobblestone road.

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Think of the word “blackout” for a minute.

You might have thought about darkness, drinking, or a frat party, but you probably didn’t think about a kosher restaurant in Tel Aviv where you eat in the dark. As I walked into the dining room, guided by my server, Hanna, who, like the rest of her coworkers, happened to be visually impaired, I realized that I was about to have a dining experience in which the food would not be the central aspect. It was completely dark, and I don’t mean "movie-theater darkness," but rather I felt like I was traveling in a dark hole where I completely lost contact with my visual sense.

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Blackout

BY JEAN CHAPIRO

Not being able to see was hard.

When Hanna arrived to the table with our appetizer I had to stop focusing on the fact that I couldn't see, and start worrying about where my fork was. I had no idea what the menu would be comprised of, and not knowing what I was going to put in my mouth unnerved me. All I knew was that it was kosher. For the first time I had to rely on my other senses. As I looked for my plate across the table, I bumped into something BAM! It was a glass of water (plastic, fortunately), but I spilled it all over the table and all over my first course. Apparently it was a salad that was now drenched in water. Luckily it was dark and I could be embarrassed about what had happened without having anyone else at my table look at me with judgmental eyes.

I was hungry, and I needed to pee, but the task of going to the restroom in the dark seemed daunting. If I could not even grab a glass of water how would I walk all the way to the restroom? Luckily, I was guided by Hanna, who was completely used to living like this. When I arrived back at the table I could immediately tell the entree had arrived.

I could smell from a distance that it was salmon and, guided by my growling stomach, I sat down and looked for my f o r k a n d

knife.

I couldn’t find them, and completely driven by impulse I grabbed the piece of fish with my hands and started eating it. I knew this was completely wrong and inadequate, but yet again, no one could see what I was doing. Distracted by all that was going on I had not even paid attention to the taste. The fish had been perfectly cooked and coated in a crunchy, almond-like crust that contrasted with the softness of the fish. I was satisfied both by the meal I just had and by the experience, but it was not over. Hanna informed us dessert was on the way.

A few minutes passed and my culinary, driven imagination kept running wild. I don't really have much of a sweet tooth, but this was different. Maybe I would have a lava cake that I could pick up and put it all in my mouth at once, or maybe we would get ice cream and I could get all over my face without feeling bad. I heard Hanna approach the table and place the plates in front of us.

What was it? I couldn't smell anything. I reached for the plate with my hands, this time without spilling my water, and picked up a dense piece of something I did not recognize. I put it in my mouth and I immediately knew: watermelon. They had decided to end the meal on a healthy note. I wanted sugar and chocolate, but how could I not be satisfied with the meal if I had just dined in the dark? Although I had some embarrassing notes, it was a meal that I most certainly did not want to blackout from.

Unfair Beauty Standards

BY ANERI KINARIWALLA PHOTO BY CAROLYN BARR Beauty is only skin deep; looks don’t matter. We hear these sayings constantly, and yet our society regularly contradicts this very idea. If looks don’t matter, why does the media airbrush away all of a fruit’s flaws? It’s because our society promotes a certain body image as beautiful, and it’s a far cry from what any natural tomato can realistically attain.

Guess what? According to current beauty standards - namely uniformly red, perfectly round, and glossy - I am not beautiful. Can’t happen. As a misshapen organic tomato, the best I can hope for is moderately attractive. If looks didn’t matter then I would be in a supermarket display or on a blogger’s plate instead of on the farm awaiting inevitable rot.

It took a lot for me to get here, for

me to even survive. I didn’t have fertilizers or pesticides pushing me forward.

When will I be judged for my merit, my sheer determination, rather than simply for how I look? The very traits that disadvantage my “ugly” brethren and me should be seen as badges of honor.

Stretch marks from growing so fast; uneven coloring because of a gene that also makes us sweeter; catface because our flowers loved and hugged us just a little too much; pockmarks from the hailstorms we’ve survived. These physical blemishes should be testaments to our worthiness.

Yet farmers dump us. Supermarkets and restaurants reject us. Consumers have historically avoided us. Until recently, the European Union prohibited the sale of oddly sized or misshapen pro-

duce - literally discriminating us based solely on size and shape. Some of the rules were ridiculously specific: a spear of asparagus could not be sold unless at least 80% of its length was green. The curve of cucumbers was regulated down to the millimeter. The result? Billions of dollars worth of food are wasted – contributing to the third of food produced that goes uneaten.

Rather than buying into these arbitrary commercial cosmetic standards, take me home to get to know me. Cook me (into) dinner. Hire me to work in your supermarket. It’s time to prove that these sayings are more than just sayings: beauty really is only skin deep and looks really don’t matter.

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eyes

F O O D F O R YO U R

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BY NINA SELIPSKY PHOTOS BY MINNA ZHENG AND JUSTINE DE JESUS

When I was a kid, my mom always tried to convince me to eat my carrots, saying they were “food for my eyes.” I usually ate them raw and plain at home, actually enjoying each bite’s crisp, satisfying crunch. When I went to my grandmother’s house, she would boil baby carrots in water and honey to make them sweet for me. The honey permeated through the bitter skin of the carrots, transforming them into candy and making me forget that I was actually eating vegetables.

Years later, I am still an avid fan of carrots. And with no vision problems so far, I like to think that my family’s insistence on the orange vegetable played a role. Thinking back on those first experiences, I began to wonder: why are carrots good for the eyes? I had been hearing my whole life that they were a vision-benefitting food, but I realized I did not completely know why. What properties make certain foods good for eyesight? I set out to find the answer, as well as inspiration for a few new vision-food recipes. After some careful research, I discovered that there are far more options than just carrots if you’re

looking to fuel your eyes.

Think about the foods that tend to catch your eye at the grocery store, such as bright yellow and orange fruits and vegetables. These are the foods packed with vitamins for your eyes to devour.

Other choices include egg yolks and leafy greens. Besides being ingredients in so many recipes, these foods also take on the role of ingredients in art.

Tempera, the most ancient method of painting, was made by mixing egg yolk, pigment, and water. The mixture was applied by artists in the Middle Ages to wood, clay, plaster, stone, parchment, and canvas. While making my own tempera paint in my art history class, I had the sense that I was carrying out a recipe as I separated out the egg whites from the yolk. I find a slight poetry in the fact that these foods, which are nutritious for the eyes, also draw the eye with their color palette and their capacity to become something so visually pleasing as the tapestries in the National Gallery or Hampton Court in London.

The vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants found in these foods may play a role in preventing two common vision

problems: cataracts--cloudy areas in the lens of the eye--and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD is a condition that causes vision loss in the macula, the part of the eye that is responsible for central vision.

Just as pigment can be applied to a canvas to create art and please the eye, it can also protect the eyes from within.

Dietary intake of the compounds lutein and zeaxanthin, which are found in the retina, has been shown to have antioxidant properties and to improve pigment density in the macula. This pigment protects the cells in the macular area by absorbing excess blue and ultraviolet light and neutralizing free radicals.

Free radicals in the retina damage proteins and DNA within cells. Antioxidants, zinc, and minerals A, C, and E fight free radicals and help to protect the eyes, too.

Next time you’re at the grocery store, think of the foods as colors you’re adding to your paint palette. Those bright yellows, oranges, and greens will ensure your vision stays vibrant for a long time.

And if you ever want to make tempera paint, you’ll have the supplies. penn appétit

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Honey-Sesame Scallops with Roasted Carrot and Mango Chili Sauce

Salmon Burgers with Orange-Fennel Slaw and Sweet Potato Fries

By Monish Sabhani

By Eva Killenberg

3 tbsp soy sauce 2 tbsp rice vinegar 3 tbsp honey 1 tbsp ginger, chopped 2 tsp sesame oil 1 1/2 pounds sea scallops 1 scallion, thinly sliced 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

Burgers 1.5 lbs cooked or canned salmon 2 tablespoons chopped chives 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 Egg Pinch of salt ½ cup panko bread crumbs 4 brioche buns

2 carrots, large 2 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped 2 tbsp mint, chopped Salt and pepper, to taste

Slaw 4 shredded carrots 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into matchsticks ½ head of fennel, shredded 3 tablespoons orange juice 2 teaspoons orange zest 2 tablespoons mayo 1 tablespoon dijon mustard 1 tablespoon white vinegar Salt and pepper

¾ cup mango, pulped ¼ cup rice vinegar 1 lime, juiced ½ small Thai chili pepper, minced 1 clove garlic, crushed 1 tsp hot chili paste To prepare the scallops: Combine soy sauce, vinegar, honey, ginger, and sesame oil in a bowl. Add scallops and let them marinade in the refrigerator for 30 mins. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high and cook the scallops for 3 mins on each side. Remove the scallops from the heat and pour the marinade into the same skillet to let it boil.

After 1-2 mins, add scallops and sesame seeds back to the skillet and coat in the reserved marinade.

To prepare the carrots: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and oil a sheet pan. Slice the carrots into substantial strips and coat them with oil, salt, pepper, cilantro, and mint. Place them in the oven for 30 minutes, covered.

To prepare the sauce: Stir together the mango, rice vinegar, lime juice, Thai chili pepper, garlic, and chili paste and heat on medium-low for 2 mins.

Fries Sweet potato Olive oil Mix together cut vegetables in a large bowl. Whisk together mayo, mustard, orange juice, orange zest and vinegar.

Toss vegetables in the dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Put in the fridge until served.

Flake apart canned or cooked salmon.

Combine the salmon, chives, lemon juice, egg, and salt in a bowl, then use hands to form patties. Pour the bread crumbs in a shallow bowl or plate. Press each patty into the bread crumbs so that they stick to the patty.

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Fry the patties for a couple minutes on each side, until brown and crispy. Transfer onto a paper towel on a plate to dry.

Toast the brioche buns until warm. Top with burger and slaw.

Serve with sweet potato fries for an extra eye bonus!

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FEAST YOUR EYES

le

ARTICLE BY RACHEL PROKUPEK PHOTO BY LEAH SPRAGUE ILLUSTRATIONS BY VALENCIA FU

Any good chef will note the importance of plating in a restaurant; it is a creative outlet for the kitchen and tempts the diner to take the first bite. Our first experience with food is how it looks, feasting our eyes on the colors and textures of the dish.

Research shows that there is a psychological difference in consumers’ perception of a dish when the food looks aesthetically pleasing than when ingredients are carelessly plated. Simple techniques that are constantly used in restaurants influence the way we see our food, regardless of if it is is actually designed with the flavor in mind (hint: that Insta-worthy avocado toast you just bought at that artsy café is 1. not seasoned at all, and 2. absolutely not worth $14). A team of experimental psychologists at Oxford tested this out—they served a salad that was either arranged like a famous painting, or as a common “tossed” salad, and found that diners thought the artful presentation was “tastier.”

Regardless of the quality of the food (but we do hope you’re making something amazing from this issue), plating is an essential part of the modern dining experience. There are a few essentials to plating that certainly take some practice: balance variety and contrast, match portion size with plate size, to garnish or not to garnish? While mastering these details of plating, there are a few key “moves” that will elevate any dish.

Turn anything creamy into a quenelle If you have a spoon and some time to practice, you can make any dessert look fancy with a quenelle—a footballshaped, perfect scoop of anything

creamy (think ice cream, mousse, or whipped cream). Take a spoon and dip into a bowl of hot water, which helps it glide through anything cold. Tap off any excess water and hold the spoon near the bowl for more control. In one, smooth motion, drag the spoon through the ice cream (or other ingredient of your choosing—just make sure it’s not completely frozen) so it curls over itself to form the quenelle. This can be done multiple times by re-dipping the spoon in hot water and using a cupping motion so the quenelle rotates inside the spoon.

Gently drop the quenelle to the plate as the last garnish. If it doesn’t come out perfect, reheat the spoon and use the back to smooth over any blemishes.

Arrange in odd numbers In order to maximize the visual appeal of a dish, elements should be plated in odd, rather than even, numbers. The number three, specifically, is the “magical number” that pleases customers. Odd numbers and asymmetry help catch the eye, so plate your pieces in ones, threes, fives, or sevens.

d od

bers num

s wo

os h

Make a swoosh A bold, u-shaped swoosh shadowing the rim of a round plate adds a Michelinstarred flare to any dish. Add a heaping dollop of sauce or spread onto the plate (think a yogurt, a purée, a pesto) and use the back of a spoon or a small offset spatula to drag across the plate.

The tail can peter out at the end, and it does not have to be perfect—small differences between plates are what make the swoosh appealing. It adds a base layer upon which you can add the other components of the dish.

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The The Shed Shed at at

Dulwich

BY MER FAGLIANO ILLUSTRATION BY CLAIRE CHEN In no more than seven months, one restaurant in London became a national phenomenon by achieving the number one position on TripAdvisor. The only issue with the restaurant: it didn’t exist.

After years working as a commentator for TripAdvisor, getting paid to write false comments on companies’ sites to raise ratings, Oobah Butler realized that a major--and exploitable--component of the site involved forged reviews by fake people. Having proved that it was possible to cheat the algorithms into improving the comments, he decided to test the site by creating a fake company.

The Shed at Dulwich was nothing short of bizarre. Named after Butler’s family’s shed in Dulwich, England, the restaurant was all about the experience.

The menu featured an always-changing list of options with plates representing different moods. The titles of dishes revealed their outlandishness: “Contemplation” was a deconstructed Aberdeen stew in which the ingredients were served as if they were in the process of cooking, “Empathetic” was a plate of vegan clams in a clear broth with rye crisps. Because of the nature of the website, the creators needed to upload pictures of the food that The Shed “served.” Incredibly, Butler and his associates were able to create delicious-looking dishes out of common household items, such as shaving cream and bleach tablets. One picture resonates above all; a spectacular shot shows an egg appearing to be balancing upright on the plate, while in reality it is held in place by Butler’s foot.

Exclusivity and secrecy were also vital to The Shed at Dulwich’s success.

Neither the TripAdvisor page nor the website featured an accurate address for the restaurant. It was always left in secrecy to the public. The only information available was the street’s approximate area. Furthermore, Butler bought

a cellphone to handle reservations and inquiries. Over the seven months of The Shed’s rise to fame, the phone rang countless times with people trying to book a table in this, one of the most famous restaurants in London. Butler answered all of the inquiries with generic statements about the restaurant being full that particular day. Always a joker, he decided to fool people into thinking that networking was the only means to securing a reservation. “Are you friends with Megan?” “How many Instagram followers do you have?” “Would you call yourself an influencer?” Regardless of how much they tried, people got rejected each time.

Skeptics would probably be shocked to realize that people actually believed the restaurant was real, but trust the evidence. The Shed at Dulwich’s fame grew exponentially in mere months, reaching the first position on TripAdvisor by November 4th after “opening” in May. By that time, people from around the world were contacting the restaurant, by phone and by email, to get a table.

According to Butler, some companies even started sending samples of their products (like spices or condiments) for The Shed to incorporate into its dishes. Other people called Butler asking if The Shed had job openings. An Australian company offered to showcase the restaurant in the company’s aircraft inflight videos. Even the local council fell for the lie, suggesting Butler relocate to a new site in London. It seemed that no matter who or where people were, The Shed fooled everyone.

As a final step, Butler decided to actually open for one night, inviting “customers” in to eat. This grand operation employed actors as the patrons, waitress, and DJ. But in order to get genuine reviews, Butler did allow some real guests to make a reservation and enjoy the food. Like the concept of the restau-

rant itself, the opening night was full of bizarre experiences. So as to carry on the secrecy, the customers (and actors playing customers) were blindfolded at a certain distance from Butler’s shed and guided to The Shed at Dulwich. Once inside the restaurant, the waitress, an actress pretending to interpret the client’s emotions, offered people a table and dishes according to their mood. More hired actors were asked to make regular comments on the taste of the food and the beauty of the restaurant, while a DJ played restaurant music in the background to hide “unorthodox” practices in the kitchen.

At the end of the day, a restaurant is about food. What did The Shed at Dulwich serve on its sole open night?

Butler argued that when people go to restaurants, they like to eat food that reminds them of home. Thus, he decided to serve the food that, he believed, best represented his home meals: that is, microwaveable ready meals. With a total expenditure of £31 ($41.57), The Shed at Dulwich served food for a whole night passing off microwave meals as gourmet dishes. Worse, it received rave reviews!

After the meal, camera crews, pretending to be filming a documentary about this most exclusive restaurant in London, asked customers about their experience. Most people reacted positively to the experience and expressed their intentions to return to the restaurant in the future.

It is still unbelievable how, with the help of the internet, people can make believable albeit false information go viral. What can we do to counteract this phenomenon? Is the best strategy here to simply be skeptical when using the internet? We need to quickly find answers to these questions. Otherwise, as recent events proved, the consequences can be disappointingly disgusting. penn appétit

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