>>52332918nta but presentation and visual appeal are actually-crucial, fundamental parts of tryhard fine dining. if it's not gold then it's those plates with a little morsel of food and little sauce doodles drizzled around it or splotched in patterns etc. it's all going towards the same thing, visual appeal.
why? the brain literally thinks food tastes better if it looks more appealing. for example IIRC the color blue is the least-appetizing color for food by pure subconscious reaction and so on. the brain also thinks heavier / more solid plates and utensils = better quality by the way, like this was proven in a study giving the same yogurt to test groups in a cheap bowl vs a nice heavy fancy one, people literally thought the heavy bowl yogurt was better and more expensive. so the gold flakes are part of that kind of cheap-shot way to make the brain think it's high quality.
as far as presentation techniques go however yeah I do find it fucking useless because it provides no flavor. imo it's kind of a cheap shot way of saying "look at this!! it's fancy!! it's GOOOLD and that's fancy!!" and I bet they'd sprinkle diamonds on food if that was edible too. I dunno if michelin star restaurants do this shit with the gold, but if they did it'd probably be just a little fleck as an accent piece on a dessert or something and not a feature, and other lesser chefs go "ooh good idea, imma cover an entire steak in gold leaf then!"
