#idk man I'm just thinkin about Hannibal like I do 200x a day since finishing the books and rewatching the show he's my Wife and I love him

[localwhiskeyuncle]

ok so in the books one of Hannibal's art forms is flower arranging; it's one of the first things Murasaki does with him when he arrives in France in Hannibal Rising and is one of the first activities where he feels a connection to someone since his family died. He does this from like 12 years old all the way up through the end of the events of Hannibal (he makes some bouquets for Clarice after their escape from Muskrat Farm) but I would argue that NBC!Hannibal's stunning food displays are the equivalent of his flower arrangements in the novels.

I'd say making a (good) flower arrangement and staging a beautiful, well balanced plate/table display are fairly similar in terms of artistic outlook. You need to be able to start with nothing and see the bigger picture of how all the components will complement each other, what would look good in contrast with each other, how texture and color impact the overall tableau, etc.

While NBC!Hannibal definitely uses bouquets as part of the set design in Hannibal's home (and I'm certain he would have designed them himself), they are not the focus of the scene. And while book!Hannibal is very into fine food and drink and a nice table setting (in fact, his taste in food/wine/tableware/cars is exactly how Clarice found him post-Florence) there is little focus on the display of the food (you could argue that in the dinner scene with Krendler, display is very important, with the abundance of flowers and the tableside show, but its one of the only times Harris made it the focus of a scene and it was honestly still more about the flowers and making it a positive experience for Clarice than it was about the plating).

Anyway TLDR Hannibal's food displays in the show are the equivalent of his flower displays in the books and I think that was a nice way of reimagining the character for the purposes of the show.