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When I'm hosting dinner at home for guests, presentation is absolutely important. Yes, it's a bit show-offy, but I think guests really appreciate the effort you've made to create something that tastes, as well as looks, yummy.

And, quite honestly, presentation is important for me when I'm cooking dinner just for myself. So, for example, if I'm making Japanese soba noodles, I'll put the noodles on a laquer plate with a bamboo mat, pour the dipping sauce in a really nice small matching bowl, garnish the noodles with ribbons of nori seawood, and set another small plate for wasabi and thinly sliced green onions.

I find that I eat much slower when food is present nicely. And when I eat slower, I tend to not eat as much. I guess it's my own backhanded way of portion control.

David - That's an interesting point about eating more slowly when the food is nicely presented.

I'll do both--entire meals made up of five plated courses, or family style straight out of the serving bowls--it just depends on what I'm serving and who's there. I have friends who are actually put off by that showiness and end up feeling the need to apologize to me the next time I have dinner at their house and they put a humbly prepared casserole right from the oven onto the table. I wouldn't put out a sloppy (sloshy) or precariously loaded dish, but sometimes, that mac 'n' cheese with bread crumbs looks most appetizing when it's still in its baking dish, bubbly, browned, and steaming!

Having a food blog and taking pictures of dinner has led to always spending a little time on presentation -- even when it's a repeat or we're just not putting it on the site.

I'm with David on this one. I think food is a multi-sensory experience and we should spend time on the visual just as we do on the olfactory and taste.

Wow; you know, I don't think I've ever seen a tomato skinned quite like that. It's very impressive.

@faith--those tomatoes are a snap to do--score the bottom with a little x pattern, blanch them for a minute, stop the cooking in an ice bath, and peel them from the x you made, just like you would if you were peeling a stone fruit. If you slice the seeds out of the tomatoes and dice them, you end up with concassé, which is nice for everything from salads to sauces.

OneWallKitchen.. I don't think presentation has to mean "fussy." I think the fact that you appreciate the bubbly, browned mac 'n cheese in the casserole (rather than scooped out on a plate or something) is a thoughtful way to present that particular dish.

As for me, I've always been particular about what bowls/plates/cutlery I use even if I'm just cooking for myself. If I'm eating watermelon, I like to put it in a pretty pink ceramic bowl. If I make polenta, I put it in bright green melamine bowls to set off the colors.

I think we all like our food to look appetizing. When you sit down to a plate that looks like it was put together with love and care--even if you were the one who did it--it makes you feel loved and cared for. And whose life doesn't benefit from something pretty? I think presentation is also our way of taking pride in our food--recognizing that the meal itself is something good and something worth taking care over.

I present my food nicely even when it's just me. I enjoy cooking - I don't just do it to survive. I don't have OCD, I'm just an artist :)

My own interest in learning to cook comes from wanting to make my favorite restaurant foods at home, and presentation is a big part of that. Since starting two years ago, though, I've gone from apeing 80s-style stacked towers of food to just trying to be a bit more considerate when it's serving time. So, yeah, presentation is important but it doesn't have to mean making it a higher priority than the ingredients and flavor, right?

Jeffzelli--you're quite right, food should taste like it looks. Otherwise, you're asking your eyes to set your mouth up for a big disappointment!

I spend most of my presentation effort on family style dishes. Making a roast chicken look appetizing is not difficult. Same for making a bowl of soup look nice. And it's no harder to make a pan of brownies look good than it is to make them look bad... and a lot more fun in the end.

For individual portions, it's not worth it to me most of the time. That's because individually portioned dishes aren't something I do most of the time. Even a molten chocolate cake is liable to get baked in a souffle dish than individual ramekins.

And yes, that means that leftovers may not look as appealing. I'm trying to use that as motivation to clean up properly after meals... bones go straight into the stock pot, and components get packaged properly. Then the next day it's easy enough to produce a tasty meal from the "remains".

For many years I tried to approach each meal as something special by making a lovely presentation to give myself time to appreciate the food in front of me. I failed spectacularly.

After my wife and I moved in together, it was much easier to put time into presentation--even for something simple like toast and a poached egg--because we both wanted to make the plates look nice for each other.

But sometimes it's just a hot dog on a plate.