50 Of The Best Oddly Satisfying Pics Of Nearly Perfect Food

Enjoying your meal is about more than just taste, which comes after the initial sensation of seeing it. A popular saying claims that we eat with our eyes, too, so we decided to test the validity of this phrase and put together a collection of oddly satisfying food pics.

From a pristine McDonald’s hamburger bun to a symmetrical striped cake, continue scrolling to participate in our “study” and see if the images are enough to make your stomach growl. Bon appétit.

01. A Koi Pond Mousse Cake For Father’s Day. Everything On The Cake Is Edible

Source

02. Due To Depression At The Time, I Never Posted One Of The Most Beautiful Loaves I’ve Ever Baked: Pumpkin

Source

If the photos, for some reason, aren’t enough and you still need more proof that the way a chef plates and presents their food significantly impacts the guest’s experience, consider this experiment from Oxford psychologist Professor Charles Spence.

Inspired by Wassily Kandinsky’s ‘Painting Number 201’, the Franco-Columbian chef and fellow co-author of the study Charles Michel designed a salad resembling the abstract artwork.

03. This Peacock Cake And Cupcakes

Source

04. I Made An Apple Tart For Christmas And Wanted People To See It

Source

05. Perfectly Executed Cranberry Tart

Source

“Some chefs now realize that they are being judged by how their foods photograph – be it in the fancy cookbooks [or], more often than not, when diners Instagram their friends,” Professor Spence explained.

Thirty men and thirty women were each presented with one of three salads containing identical ingredients, arranged to resemble the Kandinsky painting, a regular tossed salad, or a “neat” formation where each component was spaced away from the others.

06. I Got My First Tart Pan Recently. White Chocolate And Cranberry Tart

Source

07. My First Striped Cake. Pineapple Cake With Elderflower Buttercream

Source

08. I’m In Pastry School, And We Made Croissants Last Week

Source

09. Homemade Ravioli With Pressed Flowers And Dill

Source

Seated alone at a table mimicking a restaurant setting and unaware that other versions of the salad were on offer, each participant was given two questionnaires asking them to rate various aspects of the meal on a scale of 1 to 10, both before and after digging in.

10. Christmas Cake I Made For A Holiday Baking Competition At My Office

Source

11. First Attempt At Making Cedric Grolet’s Apple Tart. It’s Not Perfect, But I’m Proud

Source

12. Homemade Charcuterie Board

Source

13. I Call Them “Snookies” (Snail Cookies)

Source

Before the study, participants sampled their platefuls, and the Kandinsky-inspired dish was rated higher for complexity, artistic presentation, and general liking. Participants were prepared to pay twice as much for the meal as the regular or “neat arrangements.”

After finishing their portion, participants also rated the Kandinsky-esque salad higher for “tastiness” despite receiving ratings similar to the other salads for the four essential components of taste: salty, bitter, sweet, and sour.

14. Sushi That’s Almost Too Perfect To Eat

Source

15. Homemade Sugar Cookies With Royal Icing

Source

16. I Made A Strawberry Vanilla Crepe Cake For My Mom

Source

17. My Friend Let Her Chickens Loose On A Watermelon. They Picked It Clean

Source

Of course, teasing apart precisely which aspect of the salads’ presentation affected how much participants were willing to pay for a dish and their perception of its “tastiness” is a tricky endeavor.

However, the study’s authors suggest that the perceived effort involved in preparing the plate and its aesthetic appeal could be among the factors influencing participants.

18. The Cake I Just Popped Out Of The Cake Tin Did Not Break At All. Feels Good

Source

19. Sourdough Baguette – Oddly Satisfying Food Pics

Source

20. My Wife’s First Attempt At A Charcuterie Board. How’d She Do?

Source

21. I Made These Little Cheeseburger Macarons Filled With Homemade Chocolate Ganache

Source

Simply put, expectations were raised [with the Kandinsky-eque salad], leading to the willingness to spend more and an increased experience during consumption. The presentation of a dish can excite us and make us more present during the course.

If you want to continue testing this theory, fire up our older publication, 50 Of The Most Beautiful Pics Of Nearly Perfect Food.

22. Satisfying Japanese Soft Serve

Source

23. Put Cream In The Mug First, And My Coffee Maker Created This Visible Color Gradient

Source

24. Natural Honeycomb

Source

25. Cranberry Curd Tart In A Gingerbread Crust

Source

26. Homemade Snoopy Chicken Curry

Source

27. Homemade Peppermint Macarons

Source

28. Homemade Chocolate Butter Croissant

Source

29. My Latte Art Bear – Oddly Satisfying Food Pics

Source

30. First Chocolate Tart

Source

31. Perfectly Assembled Sprinkles

Source

32. Here’s A Cornucopia I Made Out Of Bread For Thanksgiving

Source

33. Focaccia Bread Out Of The Oven, Per Request

Source

34. My Mom Was So Sad When My Grandmother Passed Away Cause She Would Miss Her Cheesecake, So For The Last 7 Years, I Have Been Making Her One Every Year For Christmas

Source

35. Dessert For A Family Gathering Last Weekend

Source

36. The Most Perfect Loaf Of Bread I’ve Ever Made

Source

37. The Way My Sister Decorated This Tiramisu

Source

38. Cream Cheese Bread Turned Out So Good

Source

39. This Flawless Yellow Onion

Source

40. My Sourdough Bread

Source

41. Homemade Ratatouille, Hand-Cut

Source

42. This Freshly Baked Croissant

Source

43. Homemade Orange-Vanilla Madeleines

Source

44. This Perfect Pudding

Source

45. Amazing Curry Platter

Source

46. I Just Made A Batch Of Caramels, And After Cutting Them, I Had An Oddly Satisfying Moment

Source

47. This Perfectly Ripe, Tiny Seed Avocado

Source

48. How This Frozen Diet Pepsi Exploded

Source

49. Homemade Sourdough Blueberry Croissant

Source

50. The Spaghetti Arranging Itself In My Pan

Source

Like what you’re reading? Subscribe to our top stories.