Shut up and eat with your eyes and ears!

If you are in the mood for food, may I serve you some Gastrophysics.

No, it’s not a new dish. Gastrophysics is a mix of gastronomy and psychophysics. It’s the scientific study of how our experience of food and drink is affected by our senses and our surroundings. And not just the food itself.

It’s a new area of research, one that’s bringing a gamut of people together - product designers, psychologists, neuroscientists and, heaven help us, even musicians!

Gastrophysics: The new science of eating, is also a fascinating book on the subject. It’s written by Oxford Experimental psychologist Charles Spence. Savour some of his findings as food for your thought!

In 2013, Cadbury updated its Dairy Milk bar by rounding off the edges. The customers complained and felt it tasted sweeter than before and were convinced the formula had changed. Actually, nothing had changed. It seems serving food in a round shape often makes it taste sweeter. Forget chocolate, it’s the case even with beetroot jelly!

A significant majority of people choose tomato juice when flying, even though they never drink it under other circumstances. Guess why?

Blame it on the blaring 80-85 decibel of background noise of the plane that interferes with our ability to taste sweetness and increases our perception of the intensity of savoury flavours like tomato juice!

It may not be music to your ears, but staying on the subject of sound and servings, it has been proved people enjoy a cup of coffee less if the coffee machine emits a horrible high-pitched noise. And all along, you thought you ate with your mouth! Hmmmm.

Here is another soundbite. Spence found that increasing the volume of the crunch when eating potato crisps made eaters believe they?were 15% crunchier and fresher. He also chips in with more when he claims we can play the same sonic tricks with apples, carrots and with any other noisy food!

Another aspect of our eating experience that gets neglected, in Spence’s view, is the role of expectations. Specifically, the names of dishes and its role in fashioning what to expect when you hear them. ‘Give it an ethnic label such as an Italian name and people will rate the food as more authentic’, says Spence. Apparently, the name directs a person’s attention towards a feature in a dish and helps bring out certain flavours and textures better.

One thing is very clear. Good food doesn’t speak for itself. It can be made to speak in a whole lot of other ways!

Did I hear you burp!