| |
Emotion |
| |
Sight |
| |
Sound |
| |
Mouthfeel |
| |
Aroma |
| + |
Taste |
| |
Flavor |
Radio and television producers, food scientists, and product designers all devote large amounts of time and money to understand how sounds can be used to make their food products alluring to us.
At home, we rely on sound quite a bit in the kitchen; we look for certain sounds during eating and pay attention to certain sounds when we cook.
If you’ve watched episodes of The Great British Bake Off, the judges often use sound as a measure of the baker’s skill; they’ll tap croissants or listen to the crunch that occurs when a crispy pastry is cut through. Sounds can indicate quality. Freshness can be conveyed by the crunchy sound of a vegetable, like a stick of celery as it breaks, the crisp sound of potato chips or pappadums as they shatter, and the hollow sound that comes from tapping a perfectly ripe watermelon. Sounds can make eating food pleasant and enjoyable; think of crispy carrots coated with crunchy rice crumbs or the sound of hot tea pouring into a teacup. Sometimes, the more intense the sound, the better: When using a new bottle of club soda to make grapefruit soda, the crackling sound of the bubbles will be louder and faster than that from a bottle kept open for a while.
