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When putting together a meal
there are several considerations.
Taste /
Texture / Color
/ Nutrition
/ Cooking Method
/ Cost |
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Taste
Every dish should not taste the same, nor should the tastes clash with
each other. You should have a little tart, a little sweet and a little
bland. No one part should overwhelm the rest of the menu. Sometimes, it
is a little hard. Curry dishes come to mind when I think of overwhelming
flavors. One would have to give a lot of thought when deciding what to
serve with curry. |
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Texture
The textures of the foods served should be considered. Only those people
who have dental problems want all their food to be soft and mushy. But,
if everything is crisp and crunchy, then that too, could become boring.
Crisp, crunchy, smooth, mushy, liquid, solid, mealy, these all are textures
of foods that can become part of your menu. These textures need to be varied
to keep the meal interesting. |
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Color
The meal should be visually appealing also. The colors and shapes of
the foods should be varied and not clash either. A meal of all white foods
would be just as bland as a meal of all mushy foods. Pick your menu choices
to appeal to the eye as well as to the mouth. |
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Nutrition
Consider the nutritious aspect of the meal also when choosing the foods
for the menu. There is lots of information available about nutrition. But,
you would be generally safe if you had one protein food, one starchy food,
a fruit or non starchy vegetable, and a bread. The dessert may or may not
be taken into consideration when trying to stay nutritious. Most desserts
cancel out any good nutrition points earned by the meal. That's why they
need to be so sinfully appealing as to wipe out any good intentions on
the part of the diner. |
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Method of Cooking
Again, variation is the keyword here. Do not serve all fried food,
or all baked food. Vary the method of cooking to increase the appeal of
the food. But you also need to vary the method of cooking in order to be
able to ease your preparation time. You may not be able to fit the whole
meal into the oven. |
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Cost
Just how much do you want to spend on this meal? Serve the best quality
food you can afford. But some foods are a whole lot more expensive than
other foods. Spend the most on your entrée and vegetable. Then,
decide how far you want to go on the dessert. You may want to spend less
on your vegetables in order to spend more on the dessert. Remember though,
that when it comes to desserts you can't please all the people all the
time. There will more people abstaining from the dessert than from any
other part of the meal. |
