Art on a Plate

Eating is an experience that uses all of our senses. Taste is the obvious one, with five different taste receptors: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami. However, our sense of smell also greatly enhances our ability to enjoy different flavors. The human nose has around four hundred types of scent receptors, allowing us to distinguish between a trillion different odors!

We also cannot overlook the importance of sight (pun intended). Scientists have studied the effect of plating the same dish in two different ways. It will probably come as no surprise that consumers were willing to pay more for the meal that was artistically plated. But what is really interesting is that the beautifully plated dish was consistently rated as better tasting, even though it was the same food.