WHY does my FOOD doesn't look like that in the MENU?! (Food on Menus and Advertisement)

We were at a Japanese Restaurant, sharing a table with 2 young ladies in their 20s, when we couldn't help but over hear the argument they were having with the waitress. They were fussing over why dinner did not look like the dish in the menu. Apparently, there was no egg in the menu but the dish came with a fried egg. The waitress politely asked if they did not eat egg or are allergic to it. But the young lady replied that she eats egg but thought there would be more meat in the dish instead like what the PICTURE in the menu showed. The poor waitress apologised profusely.

I thought to myself, have they not asked why the burgers at any fast food joint looked so much sloppy or why fast food pizzas didn't look like anything on the menu or advertisements? To me it all sounded pretty ridiculous.

Food on menus and advertisement are the work of food artists or stylist. In order to make food look better, a lot is done to food to make it pretty inedible! To make colour look more vivid, food colouring is used. To make food look moist, a mixture of glycerine and water is sprayed on. Some of the food aren't even cooked properly in order to make it hold up better. Some of them are held up inside neatly by lots of tooth-picks, pins, plastic, paper towels and super glue. I wondered if the lady having a whinge would like any of that. Here's one video to show you how the expert does her trick.

Modern technology has enabled very professional photo editing to be done to enhance the look of the food too. Here's a video of a MacDonald's food photo shoot.

Let's face the fact now. Food advertising is food advertising - designed to make us buy. Is then deception which the ACCC should look into? This is really up to you to decide.