Gastrophysics explains how potato chips can taste even better
Frankie Solarik has witnessed first-hand the power of taste as a patron of his venue BarChef was moved to tears after drinking his Spring Thaw cocktail.
It's not your ordinary bar drink — from the ingredients to the "amphitheatre" presentation.
It's as much what's going on in your mind, I think, as what's going on in your mouth.- Author Charles Spence, Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating,
"With all these different individual components, it creates this overall experience which is very transformative," Solarik says.
Solarik is one of a growing group of chefs, bartenders, and even major food and beverage companies looking for inspiration from the science of gastrophysics — the study of everything that influences the flavour of food, other than just the taste of the ingredients.
Charles Spence, a leader in the field and the author of Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating, encapsulates taste as an experience that includes smells, moods, emotions and sounds.
"All the senses come together to give rise to great flavour experiences. It's as much what's going on in your mind, I think, as what's going on in your mouth," Spence tells The Current's summer host Mike Finnerty.
How colour and sound can affect the taste of food
- A potato chip, for example, will taste 15 per cent fresher if the eater hears a crispy sound in their earphones while biting down, Spence found in his lab.
- Tomato juice tastes better in an airplane than on the ground because low air pressure and loud engine noises amplify the umami flavour — the savoury taste found in foods like tomatoes, mushrooms and parmesan cheese — but suppress sweetness and saltiness.
- A chocolate bar will taste sweeter if it has rounded corners rather than sharp.
- And if you're trying to cut down on unhealthy snacks, eat them from a red bowl — you're likely to eat less than if the bowl were white.
Spence works with — and gets funding from — the food and drink industries. And while he says the knowledge gained through gastrophysics can be used to entice us to eat more unhealthy products, he's working with companies that are trying to do the opposite.
"These days there are more and more food companies out there who are, because of their own volition or because of government enforcement, trying to reduce sugar, salt and fat," he says.
"But when they do that to our favourite brands, you can guarantee people will write in and complain immediately."
Spence and his lab try to use the tricks of gastrophysics — from changing the colour of the food, to the shape, to the packaging — to help these companies make their products taste the same in their customers' minds, even as they reduce the unhealthy ingredients.
Ideally, Spence would like to see everyone — from high-end chefs to home cooks to just everyday eaters — take pleasure in this food science.
"Ultimately it should be about fun, to be out playing with one's food," Spence says.
"We're told not to do it as a kid, but I think it's up for grabs."
Listen to the full conversation at the top of this web post.
This segment was produced by The Current's Karin Marley.