Those glossy photos of food on their boxes can sometimes mean the difference between purchasing the product and leaving it behind on the shelf. Confronted with an image of a fluffy cream-filled cake or a soup that is steam and filled with chunky vegetables, we instinctively want to enjoy it. That usually means purchasing the product, taking it home and maybe heating it or cooking it first. Unfortunately, somewhere between taking it out of the box and actually eating it, we may be left with a nasty surprise. The actual food looks not much like the picture we were given to entice us to buy it.
Some food just seems to bear very little resemblance to its representation on the box.
Why is there such a disconnect with the food we think we are buying and the food that we are actually getting? Simple marketing is the answer. Those photos on the box are put together by professionals called food stylist’s job is to make the product look as good as it can, and they have a whole host of tricks to be able to do this, from using white glue in place of milk on cereal or squirting mashed potatoes under the skin of a turkey to make it look pleasantly plump. Sesame seeds are hand glued to buns and the luscious gravy dripping over the Salisbury steak in the frozen section may really be motor oil.
One of the biggest misrepresentation of food that you buy in boxes (or any type of packaging) is size. Pocket sandwiches aren’t quite as stuffed as they appear, bowls of stew are only a quarter of the size you might think they are, and cookies that are barely larger than quarters.
So, how can you protect yourself from misrepresented food? The first way is the simplest and the easiest. Choose food with minimal or see-through packaging, so you can see what you are getting. Fresh ingredients don’t need food stylists, and unwrapped produce has nothing to hide.
The second way to ensure that the product you expect is the one that you are getting is to get clued in to the labels. “Product enlarged to show texture” and “ Serving suggestion” are two statements that can serve as warning labels.
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