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The sound to change the taste of food
Sound: the final frontier, at least when it comes to your food.
While it is fairly obvious why the other four senses can enhance a restaurant meal, there is less research on the role of soundprobably because its effect on food it is not immediately apparent.
The Stockholm, Sweden-based company Diaz & Swahn wants to change that. The company uses a combination of sensory science, business, and marketing expertise to assist food companies in product development and growth. And while restaurants aren’t the only area of focus, they will definitely benefit from this approach to doing business, and some are already doing so.
In the words of the co-founder and creative director Johan Swahn, we see how they approach this new way of understanding the future of gastronomy:
“Understanding sensation and perception, as well as ‘taste in speaking’ are vital to the future of food”
Diaz & Swahn offers a number of different services that Food companies can take advantage of everything from simple talks and workshops to sensory testing and product marketing. Swahn and his colleague Asgeir Nilsen They also run the New Sense Lab, a research initiative that studies sensory experiences within food and health and is part of the Department of Culinary Arts and Food Sciences at the University of Örebro.
The kind of work that Díaz & Swahn does is to help sound make as important a sense in the overall experience of food as, for example, the look or feel of a food. For example, researchers found that French fries taste best when they sound the most crisp.
However, Swahn and his company take that idea one step further, exploring the ways in which sound can really alter the taste of food, or at least the perceived taste. This is sometimes referred to as “Sonic seasoning”, And the idea is that by changing one sensory area of the human body, you can change perception in another. So if those fries are a bit old, reproducing a crunch at a high volume can really make the aged chips taste fresher.
Restaurants, of course, aren’t going to throw crispy fries into the speakers in the house during dinner time, and thankfully it’s not the only way to influence taste. Swahn explains that listening to softer music can “increase the perceived sweetness of a product,” while sharper, sharper sounds will increase salinity or bitterness.
A growing body of research highlights the influence of music on the perception of taste, from the work of Swahn at the New Sense Lab until the findings of the Oxford University professor Charles Spence, to the British Airways Sound Bites program, which combines pop music with the different food courses. Because apparently rock music will improve the quality and flavor of the wine and Madonna’s high tones will make a dessert taste sweeter.
Sensory Science offers many exciting possibilities for the future, such as creating healthier eating habits (reducing sugar or salt content, but maintaining an acceptable taste) or improving the food experience for the sick or elderly, who often they lose their appetite and palate with age. As it says Swahn.
Of course it’s more complex than that, but it gives a general idea of how sound can affect flavor without actually changing the content. “
Several restaurants are already implementing these ideas in their business in general. “Today, the most advanced sensory games are found in high-end restaurants,” he says. Swahn. Cite Enigma in Barcelona, Ultraviolet in Shanghai, and British restaurant The Fat Duck, which was one of the first places to experiment with sensory science and taste.
However, fast food and casual restaurants now also play with the senses to alter design, form, function and color to create what Swahn flame “Visual cravings”. According to him, sound could be an enormously valuable resource for these types of restaurants: “Fast food chains are the ones that I think could really benefit from using sound. Imagine if one could reduce the sugar or salt, but enhance the flavor with the right background music. “
Spotify has already partnered with McDonalds in Sweden to improve the fast food chain’s music, and while the sensory and taste elements aren’t there yet, the partnership is, according to Swahn, “The first step to using music to improve the fast beat.” -food experience.
Should it be successful, we can expect to see this kind of thinking applied to restaurants of all sizes and styles.