Rachel Kay - February 1, 2023
Make Your Food Pop With
Blue Plates
Ever noticed that when you eat out at a restaurant, the plates are usually a variety of interesting shapes and colors? It seems that the color and style of your dishes can affect how the food tastes.
As you can imagine, the visual appearance of your tablesetting and the food plating is the first and longest lasting impression your dining guests will notice. If the presentation of the food is bad, our brains will naturally tell us that we should not eat it or that it may not be as we had hoped. On the contrary, if the food presentation looks good, our brains believe it will taste as great as it looks, and our excitement engrosses us in the full experience!
The color of the food itself is very important. However, the color of the plate it is served on also has a huge impact on how we perceive a meal. Your dinner table setting, can make all the difference when executed properly.
The power of color psychology should never be underestimated. Given how the colors on the walls of our homes affect us in many different ways, it makes sense that the same goes for our plates.
All of our senses play a part in how we perceive food. Our perception begins with sight and is affected by all sensory attributes such as smell, touch, texture, and mouthfeel, all of which are a part of the overall presentation of your culinary creation.
How to use Blue Plates
To Your Advantage
White is a top choice for many chefs for framing their culinary creations because almost every color of food looks good on white plates. The colors of the food seem more vibrant and the food looks more appealing. It can be a perfect frame for any style of food.
That being said, white dinnerware can also be blase'. They might work with every type of food, but sometimes they are just plain boring! Utilizing different shapes and textures of colored and unique dinnerware sets can help enhance your presentation and engage new senses. Colorful dinnerware sets, especially blue dish sets or even white and blue dinnerware can be a lot more unique and bold than safe white dishes.
Lately, I started to notice that more and more culinary professionals choose color dinnerware to add an extra pizazz to their tabletop presentations. Some play with mixing a few different colors on the same tablescape, and even mixing different textures and materials is becoming more acceptable within the foodservice industry.
If you truly want to be memorable, the color of your dinnerware set can help your cooked dish stand out. The key to using colored plates (ie. Blue plates) is to pick colors that support and highlight your creation instead of overwhelming and/or detracting from your presentation. Color can help you set the mood of your table setting and truly show your guests the personality of your cuisine.
A Practical Guide for
Serving on Blue Dishes
Now that we see how color can make or break a meal, it’s important to get it right. If you have the perfect dining room to showcase some beautiful and original plates blue in color, then go for it. But you will want to make sure that you are serving the right types of food on your plates in order to maximize your guest’s culinary experience. And as such, you are probably wondering about which food colors would pair well with your wonderful new blue dinnerware set.
Dark Blue Plates- Think Navy, Cobalt, and Royal Blue Plates
Contrast is what is most important here. Since you have dark colored plates, your food will pop the most when the contrast is highest. That means that white or beige foods will look amazing. That can include rice, white fish, poultry, or neutral pasta. Your food will glisten against the navy plates and make your guests’ mouths water.
Blue Dish Sets in Warm Tones- Think Baby blue, Ocean Blue, and Turquoise Dishes
When using lighter blue tones, lively and vibrant colored food will look best. It’s the perfect place to showcase orange and yellow foods or sauces. That can include a pumpkin or mango puree. Slices of lemon and cooked eggs. Corn and curried foods work great as well. This in turn will excite and awaken the taste buds of all guests present.
Blue and White Plates
If you have mixed set of white and blue dishes, then you literally get the best of both worlds. You can excite your guests with something visually new and exciting, but you still have freedom in food choice since you have a white palette to work with.
But ultimately, if you love the look of your plates, you're probably going to enjoy your meal even more. So, it might be important to invest in a few pieces that you love.