Here's why monochromatic food is gaining popularity

Move over unicorn and rainbow-inspired food, as single-colour meals gain favour with chefs for their minimalistic appeal and full-sensory immersion

Two weeks ago, while devouring our first batch of Devgad alphonsos, we reluctantly—because the first batch should always be eaten as is —cubed one for a salad. In went the pineapple, melon and papaya with a generous sprinkle of chaat masala and a drizzle of honey. The accidental mélange  of fruits of the same colour made it hard to tell one from the other, until we took a bite and experienced a burst of summer flavours. Incidentally, monochromatic food has been gaining popularity for some time, and besides it making for Insta-worthy pictures, we learnt that the science behind it is even more intriguing. Here, plates of food are created with the use of only one hue. When you see the food, it tricks you into believing that you’re having only one thing, but when your tastebuds savour it, the complex flavours are revealed.

Chef Mariko Amekodommo

Mariko Amekodommo, an international culinary expert and F&B consultant, explains the sorcery: “Your brain is tricked into thinking that you are eating one element because you can’t distinguish between the ingredients visually. This requires your tastebuds to go into overdrive to identify the different flavours.” In the process of thinking with your tastebuds, you end up discovering new textures. She says it’s human tendency that when we see colours in our food, we have a preconceived idea of what each should taste like. This new concept disrupts that notion.

The Rollo De Aguacate at Khar’s Poco Loco is a brilliant shade of green due to the avocados, with chicken pate hidden in plain sight

Amekodommo stumbled upon the concept on a warm afternoon in Goa, where she lives. “I was enjoying lunch on the porch of this home with electric green walls, and noticed everything on the table was green as well. That meal was so delicious. I’ve had coriander and kiwi a zillion times before, but this time, it tasted so much better.” She began researching the concept, and once she learned that it scientifically makes food taste better, she was hooked. She has been making fun, monochromatic meals ever since.

A recent menu at Sorrentina was inspired by oranges; (above) pork belly with orange jus and star anise

At Khar’s South American diner, Poco Loco, the Rollo De Aguacate is a brilliant shade of green due to the avocados, with chicken pate hidden in plain sight. Owner Megha Datwani says, being a Mexican place, avocado is a given on their menu. “Avocado has a very mild yet noteworthy flavour. It is earthy, grassy, subtle but fresh and some even describe it as buttery due to its smooth finish. In order to not overpower this flavour, we thought of the chicken pate.”  While traditional chicken pate is made of liver and can be slightly bitter, here it is cooked with chicken leg along with some homemade Mexican seasoning. “ They also add smoky aioli dip with the dish, which is a smoked paprika aioli adding a smoky flavour to this smooth dish. Datwani is fairly familiar with the concept having sampled dishes such as mango gazpacho (yellowish orange), mushroom ravioli (grey) and chocolate chilly tart (brown). “One can’t tell their flavours just by looking at these dishes; they must be tasted to complete the experience,” she says.

Truffle Avocado Salad at Cococafe

Although social media has lent fame to monochrome foods, Sophie Calle, France’s most famous performance artist, experimented with the concept back in a 1997 photo series called The Chromatic Diet. Calle set out to create a meal each day only using ingredients of the same hue. Since then, a lot of chefs have toyed with the idea. Karishma Sakhrani, consulting chef at CocoCafe , Fort, says after years of being bombarded with social media food trends like rainbow and unicorn, monochromatic plates are refreshing and more grown-up. “This really excites me as a chef. I love the use of just one colour. It’s minimal, chic and instantly grabs attention.” Her signature truffle avocado salad has baby spinach, edamame, cucumber, truffle oil vinaigrette and Parmesan cheese for all the green lovers. Like Amekodommo, Sakhrani learnt of the concept organically. While creating the truffle avocado salad at the café, she noticed her choice of ingredients were naturally taking a monochromatic form of a dish. Her initial focus was on simply tying together ingredients and flavours that work well and she then restricted it to the green ingredients only for visual pleasure. “Green is the first colour that you associate with food being healthy, so naturally, a bowl full of leafy greens, creamy avocado and tender edamame come together to amplify its nutritive prowess with an all-green avatar.”

Chef Karma Tenpa, head chef at Yazu—Pan Asian Supper Club, Andheri,  concurs. Dipping into colourways helps showcase the potential of a dish. “For the guests, it is about guessing the ingredients right, but for chefs, the process of  creating them and the idea behind it, tickles the brain. The thrust is on creativity; to put more focus on the visual art of cooking and plating. It has also given me more freedom to experiment rather than to stick with one thought.” In his kitchen, Tenpa has created a melon uramaki roll, a fruit version where he has used watermelon instead of tuna, which looks like tuna tarter  due to the red hue. Besides being a colour bomb, this one has an intense Umami flavour.

Megha Datwani

A recent menu at Bandra’s  Sorrentina was inspired entirely by oranges. Chef Aabhas Mehrotra says colour-coded meals can’t be “forced”. “Yes, food is enjoyed with all your senses, but I wouldn’t ever use artificial colours to pair up the food deliberately. Dig into your pantry and find items that belong to the same colour group.”

Karishma Sakhrani

For instance, the burrata ravioli at the restaurant has herbed pasta sheets, green pesto sauce, green apple and a pistachio gremolata, fried green leeks and fresh basil. This dish, interestingly, was born out of the thought to reduce the wastage in the kitchen. “We started to collect all the leftover greens, including  the stems of parsley, basil and celery leaves. Later, these greens were incorporated into pasta sheets, which had amazing flavour and turned into pasta which we filled with fresh burrata and herbs.” Usually, burrata is served with something tarty like red tomatoes, but here, he uses green apple and a pistachio gremolata to bring the dish together.

Chef Aabhas Mehrotra

Presently,  Amekodommo is working on meals inspired by the colour blue. “I’m obsessed with the Thai pea flowers that turn sweets and rice an electric blue.” Since that’s still a work in progress, she recommends the pink pitaya pancakes.“ Vibrant foods have more antioxidants than their dull counterparts, so a bright coloured breakfast is the perfect way to start the day. I got freeze dried pitaya powder and added it to my regular pancake mix.” 

Chef Karma Tenpa, head chef at Yazu-Pan Asian Supper Club, Andheri, has created a melon uramaki roll, a fruit version where he has used watermelon instead of tuna, which looks like tuna tarter due to the red hue. Pic/Anurag Ahire

She says these fruit powders come in a variety of flavours and colours and are easy to add to pretty much anything.  The pancakes are served with a raspberry jam and fresh hibiscus syrup. “To round off my pink breakfast, I added some beet powder and pink agave nectar to steamed milk, and a pink guava kombucha.”

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