Plastic Coating on Food Displays

From my past lives we used a mixture of starch, & simple syrup to do this - it will only last so long in an open environment - perhaps through one shift

if refrigerated, lasts longer...I belive there are off the shelf alternatives as well, but not familiar with any of those...I was lucky enough to be associated with "old school" culinary types

thats odd, the food I always order never looks like the picture or the food on display.

The display case is cooled and the dishes replaced if needed. Managers jobs to watch that.

My former spouse was the Food Editor for a very popular woman's magazine and was known for her ability to prepare food for professional photographers. Appearance and presentation are everything.

Shellac was a common applique especially on turkeys so they would appear moist and tasty under studio lights.

L.J.

Seal air and your food will be kept fresh for days.

Regards

In Japan, there is an entire industry related to creating the "food" samples that appear in the display cases here. That industry doesn't spray plastic onto food; it actually creates plastic models of food that look extremely realistic. I found the restaurant supply shopping area in Osaka fascinating for that. The way that they recreated sushi, meats, sauces, etc. was amazing. And having the plastic models in the display was extremely helpful when I first moved here; when I couldn't read the name of the item, I'd drag the poor waitress to the display case and point to the model of the food I wanted to order.

Throughout the Orient restaurants use plastic food displays that last years. Try to contact some Japanese companies on the internet, Go to an actual Japanese restaurant and see if they can help.

Most of the display food items I've seen weren't even real food, just wax or plastic models. Sometimes they look better than the real menu item, but sometimes they look like...well...garbage.

In addition to some of the other replies, many restaurant supply houses stock "plastic" food plates that look almost real. This is especially true of Korean food diishes. But yes, a lot of restaurants do keep fresh food plates in refrigerated glass coolers. This is true in Hong Kong, for example, where patrons help themselves to refrigerated dishes on display.

I know sometimes Aspic is sprayed on food for displays....