The foods you see in commercials and ads may look delicious but you probably wouldn't want to taste them. Read the article below to find out why. Then answer the questions that follow, GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT? Check out the tricks ad-makers use to make TV foods look so good. (Warnin; spoil your appetite!) Vaseline on a burger? It may not sound yurnmy. But check out the way it makes the burger look: glossy, juicy, and perfectly cooked! If you saw this burger on a TV commercial, ‘your mouth might start to water ‘And that’s exactly what the people who make food commercials want. Vaseline is just one of the tools they use to make foods look good. To get all the gross, behind-the-scenes details, ZILLIONS talked to Sood stylists Brett Kurzweil and Sue Ervin, They've ‘been dressing up foods for years. BURGER TRICKS Take those juiey hamburgers, “The bun is the biggest problem when you're doing a burger shot." says Kurzweil. He may spend an entire day looking at thousands of buns to find one that isn’t too light, too dark, 100 squished, or too wrinkly. Bven then, he might glue on a few extra sesame seeds to make the ‘bun look just right. “I’m not as picky looking for toppings,” Kurzweil says. “If you buy a good box of tomatoes, you're going to find a good tomato.” But even a good tomato can be runny. To keep the tomato’s juice from sogging up the perfect bun, Kurzweil cuts out a circular piece of plastic and puts it under the tomato slice. The plastic holds in the juice, but is invisible in the pictures. Kuraweil also uses toothpicks and small wads of paper towel to prop up droopy lettuce, Finally, there’s the burger itself. Kurzweil cooks the patty just enough to get a delicious-looking brown color but not enough to make the burger safe to eat. ully cooked burgers would look too dark.) Then, to szive the butger a juicy shine, he rubs it with vegetable oil or Vaseline petroleum jelly—yum! The burger’s makeup job can take four hours, 16 ‘The truth may Food stylists use many tricks to dress up other less- than-perfect foods: + “Ifa chicken leg isn’t shaped quite right, the ‘camera doesn’t see it as a leg,” says Ervin, who ‘works on commercials for KFC. So she injects some mashed potatoes (maybe a teaspoonful) under the skin to smooth out the hollow spots and make the leg look more “real,” “I'll sculpt it” she says so the camera “sees” a chicken leg, instead of a fried blob, + Tomake cloves of garlic look perfectly roasted in a spaghetti-sauce ad, Kurzweil paints them with liquid soap and gravy darkener (a brown caramel- colored syrup). + Ifa pie crust is too pale, Ervin “browns” it with a sprinkling of cinnamon or dry mustard. Then she adds a bit of Vaseline to make the crust shine. FALSE ADVERTISING? ‘This may all seem like false advertising, But it's actually legal to puff up chicken legs with mashed potatoes and bolster up burger fixings with paper towels! The law only requires that the food that’s being advertised is teal. So it’s OK for burgers to wear makeup, as long as it’s areal burger. “We may fudge a little pushing that burger toward them for the camera’s eye,” says Ervin “But we just enhance the food.” FOOD STAND-IN Food stylists can have even more fun with foods that are not the ones being advertised. For example, when Ervin wanted apple pie to dress up a Thanksgiving scene, she quickly filed a pie shell with PLEASE GO ONTO THE NEXT PAGE‘mashed potatoes, and put apple-pe filling on top. The pie wasn’t the “stax” of the ad, it didn’t matter that it was a fake, Some food stand-ins that stylists use aren’t even edible (see “Yucky Concoctions,” below). Keep these tricks in mind the next time a food ad makes you drool. And don’t be surprised if you unwrap a fast-food burger that looks nothing like its TV-ad cousin. You've got the real thing, not the areased-up, propped-up, plastic-supported special effects with extra seeds on the bun! YUCKY CONCOCTIONS LOOK YUMMY (Just don’t eat ‘em!) Inject MASHED POTATOES. jnto a drurstick? if 3 ehleken fg doesn’t Fook plain enough, mashed potatos fl aut the hrollow spate andl make the leg faok rare teal” Spray anectarine wit ATHLETE'S FOOT SPRAY? Ws the perfec trek if ae needs peaches when they aren't reason! The foot spray glves this neetarine stuzzy eating, q Pour HAIR TONIC ou breast coceal I's the perfect solution to keep cereal form locking S097 in commercials. Te cily white stuff does soak into cere the say ae does ‘A'éoaptul of, VEGETABLE ‘SHORTENING? rood sys sin with conn syrup and contectioner's sar to sake fake ke cream 1hSt won't melt under hot camera lights, 17 PLEASE GO ONTO THE NEXT PAGEUU ya) led Like a movie sot, this sandwich looks real — and scrumptious = from the front, But beware of what lios bohind the scenei Layers are lifted and separated by rolled-up paper towels Cold cuts are folded neatly — ‘and glued into place, ‘Toothpicks run throughout the sandwich to hold Plastic wrap Nes the layers together, under and behind lettuce leaves to keep them from drying out. A scaffolding of wooden skewers behind the sandwich keeps Each piece of meat 3 the tower from, Is brushed with oll Upping over. ‘or Vaseline to give Fe it amolst glow, Total preparation time: about six hours! Source: Copygh 198 by ConsumirsUnon of US, ns, Yonkos, NY 10703-1057. Repined by pamislen tn ZLLIONS or CONSUNER REPORTS ON HEALTH, Velume 6, Numer, Maine 1208, 18 PLEASE GO ONTO THE NEXT PAGE