The major strength of the human race, besides brains and opposable thumbs, is that our senses are tied together. All five of our senses work together to process information. That’s also our greatest weakness. If you have a stuffy nose, you can’t taste. Visual cues are linked to how food is perceived. Apparently, hearing is tied to the perception of food flavors as well, because the more background noise you have, the less appealing food tastes, smells, and feels.
Weird, no? As it happens, those years of airline food jokes might have been caused by the background noise of the flight, not the actual food quality. Sweetness, saltiness, and even crunch ratings were lowered when the sound of background noise was increased, according to a study published in the journal Food Quality and Preference.
“There’s a general opinion that aeroplane foods aren’t fantastic,” said Andy Woods, a researcher from Unilever’s laboratories and the University of Manchester. “I’m sure airlines do their best – and given that, we wondered if there are other reasons why the food would not be so good. One thought was perhaps the background noise has some impact. Nasa gives their space explorers very strong-tasting foods, because for some reason thay can’t taste food that strongly – again, perhaps it’s the background noise.”
Tags: background noise, white noise makes food blander, loud background noise makes food taste worse, food perceptions, senses, airline food, Andy Woods, Unilever, University of Manchester, weird science, human behavior, Food Quality and Preference, food science