Why is Colour Important for Food?

Walking the streets of hot and dusty Chennai, I come to notice evenings filled with little shops serving the same food...red chicken!

These little succulent things keep rolling once is gets dark, in a big oven that resembles a fridge, they roll and roll...

They are all red and they call out to desperate office goers. The office goers alight and order it, standing in line for a grilled chicken, or a tandoori chicken or a 'chicken shawarma'...it does not matter in what form it is, as long as it is red...and when it is not red, it needs to be dunked in mayonnaise.

I think we first eat with our eyes.

If the chicken was a dull brown, it would have far less takers.

I too would think twice about eating it. I too eat red chicken and I add a spice known as 'Kashmiri chili' to give it the colour without the heat. I am convinced that it is tasty :-)

Bottom-line - Tasty or not, design it to look appetising, with a touch of red! It always works.

P.S: I must add, that some eateries use artificial colouring and this is not always of a food grade and can be harmful.