The Lowdown: instagrammable recipe kits
I don’t understand
Keep up. A range of pasta is being launched that gives consumers ‘the chance of making the ultimate Instagram-worthy content with their food’, as the blurb goes.
Nope, you’ve still lost me
OK, let’s explain. We’re talking about La Famiglia Rana’s six-strong tortelloni range that as well as containing the filled pasta also comes with ‘restaurant-quality’ plating instructions, an ‘artisan’ plate and a wood spoon, so that people can create dishes that will make them look like experienced chefs for the ‘gram’.
OK, I get it. Why?
It’s all about millennials and their passion for beautiful food, apparently. And possibly pretending you’re eating in The River Cafe when you’re actually sitting in your pjs watching reruns of Love Island.
Fine. But anyone can place ready-made pasta onto a plate, can’t they?
You’d have thought so, but the detail in the presentation suggests otherwise. Users are instructed to not overcrowd their plate so as to be more precise and creative with their placement and should layer the ingredients on the plate, adding small quantities at a time to achieve a clean look (don’t cover your pasta with sauce, distribute nice little drops instead). Customers are also advised to think about colour and texture – ‘contrasting bright hues, the shine from a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of nuts or fried breadcrumbs’ and of course have an accessorising the shot with a glass of wine in shot.
But what does a pasta company know about restaurant plating?
Ah, but here’s the clever bit. It’s collaborated with chef Skye Gyngell, she of Spring, who is something of an expert when it comes to creating beautifully presented food. She is apparently responsible for developing the bespoke recipes and the step-by-step restaurant-standard plating up instructions for the pasta.
So I can eat Skye’s food without visiting her restaurant then?
Not quite. Although with these kits you could pretend to.
So where can I get them?
They’ll be available next month in most of the major supermarkets but if you’re London-based you can pick them up at La Famiglia Rana’s Instagram-inspired grocery store - whatever in god’s name that means.
