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Well, the photo on the package is always marked “Serviervorschlag” (Serving suggestion) as required by German law. Means, not everything you see on the package is actually inside (some decoration may have been added). You CAN make the dish look like the pic. If you try. Hard.
Australian packagers, be very scared, getting my camera out now!
and, we europeans thought always that all americans think USA is the hole world.
Normalnie kurwa zajebiaszczo…
Oh, so funny these americans. The brith of fine cuisine might be in Europe, but certainly not in Germany. You’d better look in France or in Italy. But to defend my people: we don’t eat this crap all the time (at least I hope most here don’t).
There are still people cooking on there own, it’s just not fine cuisine ^^
Oh, so funny these americans. The brith of fine cuisine might be in Europe, but certainly not in Germany. You’d better look in France or in Italy. But to defend my people: we don’t eat this crap all the time (at least I hope most here don’t).
There are still people cooking on their own, it’s just not fine cuisine ^^
woah, i dont get it?! am i retarded?
Is that a hot dog in a granola bar…?
Very cool, I’ve always thought about this! Thanks for taking the time to even try and match the pose, type of utensil, and cut of each item — very interesting. I live in the United States, and have never seen most of these items, but they look interesting and some look pretty tasty!
Hm, well, these foodstuffs look different from the ads they’re shown, but still edible. Take some effort to decorate it and voila.
I dont eat these craps either, all are full of preservatives !!! I prefer to cook my self !
and it has benefits also , when I cook my self it cost me half the price than buying a prepared food ! thanks for the photos anyway !
It’s sad when a McDonald’s product looks more like the advertising photo than nearly anything else…
why is it that we continue to buy food products that blatantly mislead us with their imagery. Frankly I would not buy a product whose package image looks lik a dog turd nestled gently ontop of a bile of cow vomit seeded with bird droppings – all I can say is that those who buy these products get what they deserve.
Frankly if I need a picture of the product on the front of the package to let me know what I am buying then maybe I shouldn’t be buying it!
Mark
http://www.goodhappens.ca
Oh yeah, Mr. Epstein- Americans are famous for their healthy food choices and a healthy lifestyle in general, which inevitably reflects on their physical appearance. *eyeroll*
I lived both in Europe and U.S. and have to say that most people don’t buy frozen tv dinners in Europe which are obviously most disgusting things on here.. and as far as I know Americans are the ones that INVENTED a concept of tv dinner and (do I even need to emphasize this) fast food.
I had some amazing home cooked meals in Europe and they really were meals made at home from scratch- while I lived in U.S. the concept of home cooked meal included mashed potato made from a powder, pees and tomato sauce from the can etc..
European cuisine is based on fresh groceries, and even though in the last 20 years there’s been more crap on the shelves- most people still make the healthy choices.
Though I have to say: Germans are probably the fattest nation in Europe, hence all the labels on the products.
Great post!!
I was a food stylist for a week in a past life, so this brings back (not so) fond memories. I had to pick through scores and scores of soup cans for the “perfect” carrots. Legally, we had to use only ingredients found inside the cans or boxes, but no limitation on how many we had to open to gather enough material for delicious-looking photos.
And, for some reason, we were allowed to use glue for the “milk” on cereal boxes.
Is that really pizza with tuna fish on it? Come on now. I don’t care where you’re from. Tuna fish + pizza = baaaaaad idea
Comida del Lidl.
¡Típica!; falta el “arroz en 5 minutos”
Oh please, Americans eat this and more… I loved the comparative. It looks like college food. I wish they had done TV dinners, those are the worst! If they put an actual photo on the front, do you think anyone would buy it?
Ewwh … however, this does not look half as bad as the results in “Fast Food Ads vs. Reality” http://www.thewvsr.com/adsvsreality.htm
> Say what you want about Americans, but at least we have the sense not to buy half of that stuff.
Probably because you only have the choice between Burger King and Mc Donalds ^^
I love stupid generalizations …
Not to forget: Europe is not a country. It’s a german project, and Germany for sure never claimed to be the birth place of fine cuisine ^^ We are more the Kassler, Rollbraten and Weißwurst guys. You mean France and Italy.
Strictly speaking, this is the fault of product design, not advertising. Although I’m sure most ads hawking these products use the same imagery.
Generally, the pictures are very different from reality, but I have a few points:
*I’ve actually had the Balconi Tiramisu and it looked more like the packaging than what was presented above. In fact, I thought it was a little too fluffy for my taste.
*The person just put the curry powder on the Currywurst without actually mixing it up. Mixing it up would probably make the food look more like the picture. In fact, if the person spent a little time in presentation a lot of the food he made could be made to look like the picture.
Re: Theo Epstein
You’re judging fine cuisine by looking at the pre-packaged food from Germany? Wow.
I lolled
Does someone really think buyng dehidrated soup that the vegetables will apear in the some way shown in the pack?
Some of them have a disgusting appearence.
to casper if you ever recive this good for you
Fantastic! Especially the name ‘Wuerstchen Lunch’, haha! What a study!
Cook ourserves our meals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stop this madness!!!!!!!!!!!!
Following what you said Kimberly: If you look closely you’ll be able to spot the words ‘serving suggestion’, or the German equivalent, on some of the packaging. That enables the packaging’s designer to make the pack shots appear more appetizing by adding extra ingredients, without getting into trouble legally.
lol
@ Theo Epstein: My, what a shallow statement. I imagine you base everything you have and do on appearance rather than substance, don’t you?
It’s enough to make you want to cook from scratch.
Kathleen Lisson
I just farted
As an American serviceman living in Europe for over 5 years, I must say that this ‘crap’ still is much better than the true crap we have back home. Looks aren’t everything; the food in Europe tastes (on the average) much better than the U.S….I believe because the produce is so much better. I never knew that a tomato had flavor until I lived in Germany…I discovered fresh strawberries (erdberren) actually are wonderful – unlike the tastless ones I knew from the U.S.
True, it may not look that good, but if eaten, it would taste much better than a comparative product in the states. If Americans knew how bad the food truly is in the states, we would probably revolt!
Tom,
Where exactly did you live in the US? Maybe tomatoes you bought in the grocery store in Maine in December were flavorless, but many of the South and Western states are going to produce fruit just as fresh, if not fresher, than fruit in Europe.
You wouldn’t expect the tomatoes in Norway to taste as good as tomatoes grown in Spain. Why would you expect tomatoes from Pennsylvania to taste as fresh as ones from the Rhineland?
Corny Bars and Hanuta. YUM!
I remember seeing these things when i lived in Germany…i think i bought the currywurst thing one time. It was rank.
Loved this.
@ Jason: I would definitively prefer those from Norway to those from Spain. In Spain they grow them to often in a year and to fast, they are fresh, but they have no taste but the taste of water. Those my grandma grows in her green house here in Germany taste like real tomato. Same goes for those my father grows. I never (!) got such tomatoes in a supermarket. You only get tomatoes once in a year for probably two or three weeks. The crap you get before and after only looks like tomatoes.
My snap offs look more eatable than that Rinderroulade sh#t !
Oh, so sweet. Those “Rinderrouladen” are really close to what they look like when cooked by a real cook. And they are delicious. Those you see on the photo are still ok.
But to spread some more clichés: you “mayonnaise on everything” eaters will never know what a real sauce is ^^
unbelievable what some of us eat day in day out, I almost barfed.
The photos make me sort of sad. The food tried it’s hardest to live up to it’s reputation on the outside of the packaging, only to fail the person eating the food. The photos could have used a little more effort to match the packaging but for the most part people just tear the package open and eat without regard to the appearance anyway.
Im just sitting here scoffing a pack of marshmallows and saw this web site i too thought i threw up a little but it could be from what im eating now . im glad i live in australia where we are at the mercy of coles and wollies for choice or lack of it . better to grow our own food and vegies
I’m Where Hungry………………………..
False advertising goes even further when you consider how many foods claim fruity goodness in packaging and advertising (in the US) but contain almost no fruit at all. Follow the link to see some examples : http://www.preventioninstitute.org/sa/fruit/
yeah…the germans…always the germans… anything else besides the II world war and bla bla bla? now comes the food…humm wonder what comes next!
USA hell yeah, very elegant, very healthy people, no doubt….uh and don’t forget the great american world known cuisine skills…. aka “fast food” (maybe it’ll work with a french accent)
Anyone who noticed that this is all about canned food? This must be almost everything you can get in cans or to just heat up you can find in Germany. No come and tell me German or european cooking is unhealthy, let’s do the same test in USA, just to see how things turn out, will we?
By the way, there’s a large number of herring salads from different producers, it’s not that all germans just eat herring all day.
Honestly, prejudices about a country quite far from the USA and, as your president stated so precisely “in the middle of Europe”, should be avoided. If you haven’t seen Germany for yourself and lived there, keep you opinions by yourself. And I will keep mine about the USA; although I’ve been there and lived there.
Oh, and by law all packages have to say “serving suggestion”.
“I think this shows that packaged food is inferior to meals prepared from fresh ingredients.”
No shit??? Keep searching, Watson!
I was overall impressed, honestly. We all know not to trust the packaging or advertising as to what we’re going to get, but quite a few of these products were presented with only slight cosmetic improvement over the actual result, and some of them looked absolutely as good as they did on the box.
Eehehe…this happens everywhere…not only in this specific products!! people in this business are like anybody else in other business…try to see the commercials in the TV, the information and the global economie…they are joking with us and you are joking with somebody else…it’s a powerfull circle…we don’t care about the children of others but we care about our children…more money makes the humans “adorables”…(don’t you think?)…lol
I believe the United States has a similar requirement for “serving suggestion” being displayed on the packaging.
And, under certain circumstances, “enlarged to show texture.”