The glistening, juicy hamburger patty. The perfectly melted cheese. The crunchy, fresh lettuce. And, of course, the baked-to-perfection bun. Our favorite fast food meals look absolutely divine in the commercials, whereas, in real life, they’re often a bit disappointing in appearance. No offense, Big Mac. How do fast food companies make their menu options look so gorgeous? It turns out there’s so much more that goes into a fast food commercial than meets the eye.
Although the food that appears on our TV screens looks appetizing AF, the truth is that the featured food is barely even edible. Most food we see on TV is either raw or undercooked, drenched in some inedible substance, or something entirely different altogether.
The saying “beauty is pain” doesn’t just apply to us humans. Food has to go through the wringer in order to become presentable and camera ready.
Some food stylists have spilled their secrets for making fast food look so damn good on film. We now know what it takes to turn that limp burger (again, no offense, Big Mac) into a striking sandwich that’s totally crave-worthy. And we won’t lie — once you know what exactly is done to make this food look so good, you may just lose your appetite.
1. They use undercooked patties.
Food stylist Ellie Stern revealed her secrets to making fast food look great to MoneyTalksNews.com. The first secret she unveiled is that she likes to undercook her patties to ensure they look as plump and moist as possible. The longer a patty is cooked, the more it shrinks up and dries out.
2. Grill marks are added post-grilling.
If you’ve seen the inner-workings of a fast food establishment, you probably noticed that there aren’t any *actual* grills on the premises.
Most locations have a simple flat grill. So, how do the burgers in the fast food commercials get those grill marks?
Stylists add them on with an electric charcoal starter, heated metal skewers, or even eyeliner.
3. Steam is created in an unconventional way.
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw8uHrf7sP0"]Obviously, fast food can’t stay piping hot forever when its being dolled up for the camera (that is, if it was even hot to begin with).
So, food stylists use a variety of different methods to recreate steam to show that the food is hot, hot, hot.
They may use a hand steamer, usually used for ironing clothes, or a microwaved damp tampon or sponge.
4. Antacids are added to sodas.
To keep soda fizzing long enough to film or photograph it, food stylists pop a few antacids into the drink to keep the bubbles coming (and to keep us drooling). Or else, it would just look flat, boring, and totally unappetizing. It’s kind of like Coke and Mentos — just less scary.
5. Condiments are pinned in place.
Stern uses toothpicks to pin lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and other condiments into place atop the burger. The pins allow Stern to place her toppings wherever she sees fit and ensure they’re not going to slide off. This is one smart hack we definitely can’t be mad at, especially since sandwiches are often served with toothpicks holding them in place.
6. Cardboard keeps things from looking flat.
Toothpicks and cardboard can also be used to keep sandwiches, burgers, and pancakes from looking flat. Who knew?
Inserting pieces of cardboard and foam between the layers of a sandwich adds structure, and toothpicks can also be inserted strategically to push up ingredients to make the sammy look taller. It’s all a cardboard illusion.
7. Wax is added to the special sauces.
Those fast food sauces always look divine on the commercials, and that’s because wax is often added to them before they take center stage.
Wax makes the color of that honey mustard or BBQ sauce pop and also ensures a consistent, even look. So that’s why commercial sauces always look so shiny.
8. They spritz water to add moisture.
To make a burger look more moist and extra delicious, and to make condiments look extra fresh, Stern uses a small spray bottle to spritz water on the burger before the photo is taken or the commercial is shot. Paired with the right lighting, that spritz makes for a mouth-watering image.
9. They use bowls filled with styrofoam.
In order to make a bowl of noodles, soup, or even mashed potatoes look bulkier and more impressive, a styrofoam ball is placed in the bowl before the food is added.
Sometimes decorative rocks are used in lieu of styrofoam.
This trick makes it seem like you’ll get a lot more bang for your buck when you order that meal from the restaurant.
10. Potatoes step in for ice cream.
Those favorite fast food ice cream treats you see in the commercials aren’t what they appear.
Because ice cream is so tricky to work with for long periods of time, food stylists have learned to swap the real deal with mashed potatoes, dyed accordingly.
If potatoes aren’t cutting it, they’ll whip up their own un-meltable ice cream using shortening and confectioner’s sugar.
11. They Scotchgard their pancakes.
To make sure the “syrup” doesn’t soak into the pancakes mid-take, food stylists often use Scotchgard — a water-repellent spray — on the pancakes to make them less porous.
And that “syrup” you see being poured onto the pancakes in the commercial is usually motor oil, used for the same reason.
Yuck.
12. They mix sour cream with motor oil.
That motor oil has more than one use in the studio. It’s sometimes added to sour cream to enhance the look of the quintessential dollop, which sounds pretty gross and makes us not want to watch a sour cream commercial.
It smooths the sour cream out, and adds just enough lubricant to gracefully slide off the spoon.
13. Hard lighting is used.
As photographer Matthew Pace told MoneyTalksNews.com, hard lighting helps to pull out the texture of the burger and give the entire meal some shape. So, lightening really does make a difference — even for food and drinks.
A hard light paired with that spray bottle can also really help pull out the “juiciness.”
14. They use fake ice.
Under hot photography lights, real ice melts way too quickly and can look foggy in photos. Many food stylists use fake, acrylic ice to ensure the photographer or camera crew gets ample time to grab the perfect soda shot. That would explain why ice in ads always looks so perfectly icy.
15. Foamy drinks are doused in dish soap.
To make foamy beverages like beer, coffee, and milk look like they’ve just been freshly poured, food stylists may add dish soap to the surface of the drink. Yes, dish soap — something no one would ever want to taste. However, soap bubbles last much longer than beverage bubbles, so they are perfect for long shoots.
16. Yes — even fast food companies use Photoshop.
Fast food companies treat their burgers and fries like the Kardashian family, making sure to smooth out any imperfections and create unattainable beauty standards that even our burgers can’t live up to.
As MoneyTalksNews.com reports, McDonald’s oftentimes blurs their buns and repositions their cheese to be just right.
17. Mashed potatoes are used like lip-fillers.
The fried chicken we get at our local fast food chain simply does not compared to the stuff we see on TV, which always looks so golden and crispy.
Those drumsticks always look so plump and meaty.
Oddly enough, food stylists inject mashed potatoes under the skin of fried chicken to fill it out before shooting it.
18. Buns are coated with shoe polish.
The hamburger buns we get through the drive through will never look quite like those in the commercials, and that’s probably for the best.
Food stylists color hamburger buns with shoe polish to give them that freshly-baked look and moist, buttered shine.
Shoe polish is also applied to grilled chicken and hamburgers.
19. Sesame seeds are added with tweezers.
That’s why they look so perfect in every shot and photo, and why they are always so evenly spaced. Stylists actually take the time to attach each sesame seed to make the burger look perfect. It is truly an art form, one that takes a steady hand and precise eye.
20. Robots are responsible for those awesome “falling” shots.
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA0j9EU2J5k"]Ever wonder how videographers get those super cool burger-in-mid-air shots? The ones that make a burger look extra delicious and fun?
The process to get them is really high tech and uses robotic arms, rubber bands, and expert timing to get everything just right. So they definitely aren’t as simple as they look.
21. Melted cheese is actually boiled.
To achieve that perfect melt on a square of American cheese, food stylists will hold a piece of cheese over a pot of boiling water in order to make it go “limp” and melty.
Or, they may take a heat gun to the corners of the cheese once it’s on the burger.
22. Mustard and ketchup are injected.
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSd0keSj2W8"]As we see in the above video from a McDonald’s photoshoot, the food stylist pays close attention to where the ketchup and mustard should go once the burger is built.
And when it’s time to do so, he injects the ketchup and mustard into the burger with a syringe.
23. Glycerine keeps things shiny.
Asian noodles, seafood, veggies — anything that needs to remain shiny for any length of time will most likely receive a dousing of glycerine.
Glycerine is an oily substance used in many home and beauty products like shampoo, soaps, and cosmetics.
We won’t be so snobby about the appearance of our fast food any longer. At least we know it doesn’t contain motor oil, shoe polish, or dish soap like its television brethren. Ick.
