{"id":4987,"date":"2015-12-03T21:11:56","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T21:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/donatella.com\/?p=4987"},"modified":"2017-08-09T06:58:14","modified_gmt":"2017-08-09T06:58:14","slug":"frontgate-beautiful-food-presentation-tips-from-donatella","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/donatella.com\/2015\/12\/frontgate-beautiful-food-presentation-tips-from-donatella\/","title":{"rendered":"Beautiful Food Presentation Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greetings. I\u2019m\u00a0Donatella Arpaia<\/a>, with the first in a series of guest blogs about holiday entertaining.<\/p>\n

Today, I\u2019m sharing ideas on how to present your food during the holidays. Trust me, you don\u2019t have to be a chef to make a beautiful presentation.<\/p>\n

\"presentationGuide_02\"As an Iron Chef judge, a third of the final score went to plating.\u00a0At times I was criticized for emphasizing it, but thankfully my vote was what counted!\u00a0Why shouldn\u2019t presentation matter? Eating is a sensory experience, and before we smell or taste, we \u201ceat\u201d with our eyes.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to have superior knife skills to make food beautiful.\u00a0Below are some tips and tricks I learned along the way \u2014 from judging on Iron Chef to running my restaurants, to working on photo shoots with fantastic food stylists.<\/p>\n

Think about plate size.<\/h2>\n

Crowding food on a small plate looks messy. Merely plating it on a bigger plate creates more white space, bringing elegance and beauty to even a simple green salad or appetizer.<\/p>\n

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