The perfect meal

Normally it might be considered rude to take your mobile phone out at the dinner table, but at London-based restaurant House of Wolf, diners used their phones as part of an experiment into ‘sonic seasoning’. Inspired by research led by Charles Spence, a psychologist from the University of Oxford, UK, the restaurant invited diners who had been served a dessert of ‘cinder toffee lollies’ to use their mobile phones to ring one of two numbers. On one phone line was music chosen to enhance the sense of sweetness; on the other, a tune to bring to mind a feeling of bitterness. This helped each diner to alter their perception of the dessert and enjoy it more. “It seems we associate higher notes, such as a tinkling piano, with sweetness, and deeper, more resonant tones with bitterness,” says Charles.

The simple experiment encourages diners to flick between high- and low-pitched sounds as they enjoy a delicious bittersweet snack^w1. Try it with your class, perhaps with a toffee, and if you happen to experience sweetness flooding over your taste buds as you listen to the high notes, or bitterness as the pitch gets lower, you are not imagining things. The music has changed your perception of flavour, or at least prompted your brain to alter how it perceives the snack.

This tasty exercise illustrates one of many approaches that Charles’s team, in collaboration with neuroscientists, marketers, musicologists, designers and chefs, are using to better understand our experience of food and drink. “Flavour is shaped not only by taste and smell, but also by the environment, the context of the meal and visual cues,” he explains. “Food is the one place where all the senses come together. The room, the music played, even the shape and colour of your plate – they all matter.”

Sensory science

Charles’s publication list reads like an experimental tasting menu. In one study, designed with top Spanish chef Ferran Adria, diners rated an identical strawberry mousse as 10% less sweet if it was served on a black plate rather than a white one. Another illustrated how perceptions of whisky taste can be influenced to be grassier, woodier or sweeter, by changes in lighting, background noise or surrounding scents. Woody notes, for example, are enhanced by low mellow lighting, whereas red lighting and a rounded glass can make your drink taste sweeter.

Charles has also investigated why tomato juice is a drink of choice on an aeroplane but not on the ground (Spence et al, 2014), and found that potato chips that sound crunchier taste better. It seems that what we enjoy depends not only on our taste buds but also on our minds. “Even before we put food into our mouths, our brains have made a judgement about it,” explains Charles. “People buy a wine that tasted great when they were on holiday in the sun, open it on a cold winter’s night and it tastes horrible – everyone has had a version of this experience.”

The work has attracted the attention of academia and industry alike. Coffee giant Starbucks has developed playlists for customers to listen to, to get that ‘coffee-shop experience’ at home. Meanwhile, chocolate company Cadbury learned a harsh lesson when it gave its Dairy Milk bar a more rounded shape, only to receive complaints from consumers who believed the recipe had been modified (it hadn’t). The reason? Round tastes sweeter. “Surprisingly, these perceptions are common across groups of people,” Charles explains. “By taking our understanding of how the brain works, we can learn which shapes, instruments and notes go with particular tastes, and present them together to make food healthier and taste better.”

New ideas on the menu

Amongst many other projects, Charles is currently working with a philosopher and a chef to identify ways of making insects more attractive as a substitute for meat – and they could be used to nudge people to make healthier food choices. “Before, the focus has been on technology in the kitchen – you do not see it, but you taste the results,” he says. “I think we will increasingly see more things like directional soundscapes and harnessing mobile technologies at the table. Restaurants are a fantastic test bed of innovation – and if you can convince chefs that the colour of their plate matters, then it could be on the menu the following day, just like that.”