Every delicious plate of food goes through many stages before reaching finalization. From cutting to sauteing to boiling, the dish set before you in a restaurant or cafe is a work of art and a labor of love. Food accents, also known as microgreens, add the final quality touch that often appears in the photos of travel pamphlets and cookbooks. Many consider a dish incomplete without this visual flair and the age of the Internet has even seen multiple photography groups dedicating their time to documenting these cooking arts. It takes a dedicated amount of time and effort to learn how to grow microgreens and many restaurants would be bereft without their iconic visual panache.
History Of Microgreens
It’s estimated that microgreens have been around for 20 to 30 years. While some look up how to grow microgreens, these tiny plants are exceedingly difficult to cultivate and take ideal growing conditions and a careful hand to develop properly. There are at least 100 different kinds of common garden flowers that can be turned into either candied decorations or edible additions, with edible crystallized rose petals being a popular choice for special occasions like weddings and birthdays. Microgreens, despite their relatively short history, are now considered a staple in any chef’s cookbook. Most restaurants in America put microgreens high on their list of necessary touches.
Microgreens And Restaurants
Fine dining is a popular pasttime in America, with visits to fine-dining restaurants increasing by 3% in the past year alone. Around 36% of fine-diners come from households of $100,000 yearly income or more, with the average cost of fine dining in the U.S. being almost $30 per person. Food presentation is a lengthy and complicated art dating back centuries that combines texture, color and composition to create an ideal dining experience, not unlike how a fine artist composes paintings. It’s been found that adults prefer minimalist arrangements with three colors and three food components while children often prefer more, at six colors and seven food components on average. Microgreens are a cooking staple and a popular visual addition that continuously prove big things come in small packages.
