It's not what you eat but how you eat it

Experimenting with colour, plate size, serving dishes, and presentation all reveal that it’s not what you eat but how you eat it that makes food tastier (BBC – Future, February 26, 2016).

Sensory stimuli can impact the perception of flavour. That’s the outcome of several food studies. The colour of the serving plate and the texture of food influence taste – and so do the type of utensils used. For example, serving desserts in a red dish makes them taste sweeter than serving the same dessert, with the same sugar content, in a non-red dish. Heavier knives and forks increases people’s perception of how valuable a meal at a restaurant is – the heavier the utensils, the more valuable the meal.

Psychologists at the University of Oxford says plateware plays a role in how food tastes. Charles Spence says ‘everything from the texture, the temperature, or the feel, or the plateware, or bowl can fit into this.’ If a bowl of food is held in the hands, increasing the weight of the bowl, it could impact people’s sense of satisfaction with the meal, even making it taste ‘more rich or intense.’

Spence conducted experiments with participants to determine whether the size or the rim on a plate will impact their perception of how much food there is on the plate. The results showed that portions of the same size seemed smaller to particpants when the size of the plate was increased.

Plateware does matter to taste, says Spence. And food served in a bowl, rather than on a plate, seemed to taste better. So he says, it’s not what you eat, it’s how you eat it – from the shape, size, and colour of the crockery to the weight of the cutlery.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160226-why-bowl-food-might-be-tricking-your-brain

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...

Shindi: the Georgian Cornelian cherry

The Cornelian cherry – shindi in Georgian – is a fruit with medicinal and decorative properties. It was grown from ancient times, according to the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS). It is also commonly called the European cornel. It is native to southern Europe from France to Ukraine as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. The Cornelian cherry tree ( Cornus mas ) can be grown in orchards, but it is often seen in the forests of Georgia where it grows up to 1,350 metres above sea level. It is a medium to large deciduous tree, growing from 5-12 metres tall. The flowers are small with four yellow petals in clusters, which flower in February and March. The Cornus mas has three botanical varieties: (1) var. typica Sanadze with cylindrical red fruits, (2) var. pyriformis Sanadze with pear-shaped red fruits, and (3) var. flava vest with yellow fruits. The fruits are oblong red drupes about 2 centimetres ...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog