Cross-Cultural Differences in the Shape of Sweetness

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Published 2015

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Intriguingly, recent cross-cultural research has highlighted the fact that not everyone experiences the same cross-modal associations when it comes to the shape of taste. The semi-nomadic Himba tribe of Namibia, for instance, actually shows the opposite pattern of results from Westerners, associating sweetness (as in milk chocolate) with angularity. Further research is needed in order to determine why this should be so.

See also vision; sound; and sweetness preference.

Charles Spence

Bremner, Andrew, Serge Caparos, Jules Davidoff, Jan de Fockert, Karina J. Linnell, and Charles Spence. “‘Bouba’ and ‘Kiki’ in Namibia? A Remote Culture Make Similar Shape-Sound Matches, but Different Shape-Taste Matches to Westerners.” Cognition 126, no. 2 (2013): 165–172.
Spence, Charles. “Unravelling the Mystery of the Rounder, Sweeter Chocolate Bar.” Flavour 2 (2013): 28. http://www.flavourjournal.com/content/2/1/28 (accessed 7 October 2014).
Spence, Charles, and Betina Piqueras-Fiszman. The Perfect Meal: The Multisensory Science of Food and Dining. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014.

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