JOHANNESBURG – Out with the old and in with the new. Ditch those glass plates for wooden board platters in order to serve your meals in elegant style.
In case you didn’t get the memo, wooden board platters or ‘board meal’ are the hottest trends in food and the art of how to make food look pretty, according to celebrity chef Siba Mtongana, presenting an eyeful for the Food Network at the DSTV Delicious Food and Music Festival on Saturday.
Siba demonstrated how to finish off the wooden board platter presentation. “At the same time it’s really lovely if you’ve got a beautiful big salad platter, you can have skewers on it in the board with mint leaves, it’s really beautiful,” and to skewer the food in the centre to secure it and for light nibbling”. Another thing you can do with boards, when having a bigger board, is a meat platter.”
Other trends highlighted by the food maestro include using a transparent beverage dispenser with their paired glasses and filling it with ‘a huge take of juice and keep refilling it’ to show the vibrant colours and concoctions of drinks. “You can add water with some fruits and some juice if you like, which gives a very lovely flavouring,” she said.
Another trend is to use the trendiest colour right now – rose gold coloured dishing utensils. The importance of creativity and think out the box was emphasised by the celebrity chef especially when entertaining guests with a limited budget to spend on kitchen decor such as candles, can be inverted, re-purposed and dressed up for displays.
She went further by giving advice on how to protect your utensils, “If I have chicken wings on marble, then what I do first is put a layer of wax paper so that it doesn’t damage my marble.” On food photography, Siba gave her top tip to make your food stills Instagram-worthy. “The best picture to take if you are on Instagram for food is on top and it must be chrome as it looks amazing. Then add three flowers.”
Siba was among a plethora of indulgent food at the festival where festivalgoers palette were spoilt for choice in the rounded food market with everything on display from fusion sushi to gourmet sorbet and Ethiopian cuisine.
