Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Food shape and textures- are they just as important as flavors to you?

Will you eat any pasta and enjoy it just the same, or is the specific shape and outer texture important
for the eating experience?

Do you enjoy your oats in part because of the pieces?..could you put your oatmeal dish through a blender
and enjoy just the same?

Fillet steak in strips , diced or one slab...does shape effect affect how much you enjoy it?

Outside the basic need for nutrition- How much of it is just psychological?..ie; humans just trying to break the monotony?

a little of both, deep fried shrimp heads and raw tails sushied up for dinner


sweet, crunchy and delish

It all looks like chit, when I'm done with it.....

Shape and texture are important but nothing trumps taste. JMHO

Like this, for example:

Texture and presentation are very important.
Think fresh french or Italian bread versus Wonderbread.
Proper carbonation and temperature are important in beverages.

No.

You can roast a chicken with the head and feet on just as well as with them off. The presentation might degrade slightly, though.

lol

Presentation can make some rather nasty stuff appear tasteful.

I like going to chinatown and seeing all the different birds cooked whole and hanging up, but its more for observing their old tradition,
I dont eat all the bits the chinese do.

I like shrimp and lobsters

tripas don't look so good but they sure taste good wrapped in a tortilla with a cold beer.

we taste first with our eyes. I spent far to many years in the restaurant business, to not appreciate the eye appeal of my food.
Mouth feel, or texture, is another issue, but yeah, that has to be correct as well. Expectations influence satisfaction.
We all know what a certain food should feel like when we chew, if the dish does not meet that expectation, then we are abruptly aware of it. Apples should not be mush, pasta should not be half cooked and hard.

On the other hand I am perfectly happy with food prepared by a cook and do not require or want a magnificent repast conjured by the twinkle-toed culinary artiste of the year.

Good cooks know this well.

Hot fudge sundays teach that temperature differences are also important.

Crunchy vs Mushy (anything fried with a soft inside)
Hot vs. cold
Spiced vs. soothing ( Jalpeno's & Cheese)
Sweet vs Tangy
Creamy vs. Crisp - salad dressing vs. salad

I could keep going, but you get the idea, each of these are a pallet to paint with ...

So taste, heat, spicey ness, acid vs. alkaline, texture, even smell can play in.

Every now and then I really crave something casserole like with lots of gooey cheese and a crust on top. Could be lasagne, or the old recipe my father used for baked macaroni and cheese. That recipe involved macaroni, sharp cheddar, butter, condensed milk or cream, and that it be topped with shredded cheddar cheese, Italian bred crumbs and grated Parmesan cheese in layers. When baked, the crust was toasted to a crunchy brown, with flavors that revealed themselves as one ate. Everyone preferred the crust to the rest of the dish, and would soon visit the leftovers to pick at the crust. I still need to figure out how to make the crust without the rest, but it seems impossible. Texture and flavor seem very important, as does aroma, but then I'm a peasant that considers sliced dry Italian salami and mini-pretzel sandwiches a meal. I mean really, those tidbits have several food qualities covered: fat and cholesterol, salt, carbs, calories and crunch.

There are no foods I don't like, but I enjoy some more than others. And I enjoy them most when they are prepared and presented correctly.

Texture seems to be more important to me as a I age. Presentation per se doesn't matter to me, but it is an indication that the cook or chef took care with what they are doing rather than just slopping it on a plate.

If you think texture doesn't matter, than you don't care whether your steak is prepared rare, med/rare, med, well done of however you like it.

I agree 100% with you,.458. For example, when I was a kid gooey cheese stuff seemed great. Now, I find a large wad of molten cheese repulsive.