The Color of Food

7/22/2014

Do you ever think about the color of food?  Why are tomatoes read, at least most of them, carrots orange and lettuce is green. 

Let's suppose that instead of putting red ketchup on your hamburger, you decide to put pink ketchup on that burger?  Off putting?  Of course.  Mind you for this exercise, that the pink ketchup tastes exactly like the red one.  Will you find it difficult to bite into a pink covered burger?

Years ago, my mother one day - and who knows what she was thinking about - put red food coloring in gravy.  Nobody would even touch it.  We all knew it tasted the same, but the color alone put us off.

When I think of the food I eat, I know that my mustard needs to be yellow as does my butter.  I can accept the different colors and tastes of chocolate because after all we're talking about chocolate.  Everybody knows there is no such thing as bad chocolate.

If I go back to my youth, ice cream came pretty much in three colors: pink, chocolate or vanilla.  Eventually ice cream evolved into many different flavors, extra rich, crunchy and colorful.  If I'm going to put ice cream on a fruit pie, it must be vanilla.  Almost as if it were a law.  As much as I like chocolate, I would never put it on a pie, the same goes for strawberry.

I have learned to accept white corn and apples of different colors and taste.  I'm not adventuresome to say the least, so I don't want anybody coming out with a new shade of green for peas.  If they want to fuss with a green vegetable they should use brussels sprouts or spinach, which are two foods that I don't much care for.  I like what I like and I seldom stray outside of my "box" or comfort zone.

My mother was a meat/potato cook and that's how I was raised.  I don't believe she ever cooked with rice and the only pasta she used was when she made spaghetti.  So this acorn didn't fall too far from the tree!

I've accepted, but don't care for, all the different colored fillings in Oreo cookies.  Since I haven't tried them, I don't know if they are flavored differently or are just pleasing to the eye.  I being somewhat stubborn, don't want my Oreo cookies filled with green or pink stuff.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Will all the food engineering that's going on, I suppose it won't be long before the shape and/or color of food will change. For now I'll just stick to what is familiar to me.

P