What is this? What senses influence the experience of a dining establishment in complete darkness

It's not all about taste or texture. The appearance of food can also impact our perception. Often, consumers are unfamiliar with the foods they are looking at.

According to a new study published in Appetite, communication plays a key role in understanding what food is. This suggests that communication and social interaction are integral to the development of our perceptions of food, contrary to the belief that taste is a private, personal sense and therefore cannot be compared to other forms of sensory experience.

This study suggests that social interactions are integrated with senses like taste and vision, which help us understand the texture and taste of food, even when we don't know what it tastes like.

When you eat in a dark restaurant, what happens to your vision?

To decide what to eat, consumers use their senses. If this restriction is imposed, the usual associations of a food may not be present.

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In some restaurants, dishes are placed in complete darkness.

The study suggests that when you don't understand the nature of the food you're eating, eating becomes more about tasting. Instead of just eating it, consumers use their taste buds to learn.

Ten hours of recording were used to analyze the responses of diners at a restaurant that serves normal food but masks it by hiding it in darkness. This restaurant located in German-speaking Switzerland served customers while serving them indiscriminately.

The question “what is it?” » » was asked not only at the beginning of the recording, but also at different points during the meal. The study notes that this was often more important than eating the food.

Communication was key so participants could quickly determine what they were eating. When one participant suggested that the meal he was having was tomato-based, others also agreed. Participants would first make a guess (saying things like "I believe it"), before others confirmed it more confidently. To help each other guess the food, participants would divide their foods into different categories.

The researchers also observed that participants did not always agree with each other's statements.

Even when the estimation was carried out as a group, it could be carried out unilaterally. Participants would draw their own conclusions and then revise them without any input from others.

Unfamiliar foods: what happens when you can't know the food?

According to the study, the way people respond to food is affected by their social environment. At a tasting or in a fine dining restaurant, one would be expected to give a detailed description of the food, whereas at a normal dinner, one might simply say "mmmm" to show enjoyment.

The study also analyzed videos from a high-end French restaurant where customers who were not used to this type of place tried to figure out what foods they were eating in their creative kitchen. They ate deconstructed foods, which are conventional dishes taken apart, changed in shape, texture and temperature, but not in flavor. Spanish chef Ferran Ara was inspired by Jaques Derrida to create this cuisine.

The food has been altered beyond recognition, but the customers' senses are not restricted.

The participants could not determine what it was, even though they had sight. They wondered what the different components were, sometimes identifying them only by their color (one participant asked “what is that yellow”).

Appetite
" What is this ? »Multisensory explorations of eating with and without sight'
Published on: June 5, 2024
Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2024.107530
Authors: P. Hanggi, L. Monde