RESEARCH PAPER – COLOUR–TASTE CORRESPONDENCES: DESIGNING FOOD EXPERIENCES TO MEET EXPECTATIONS OR TO SURPRISE

Colour–taste correspondences: Designing food experiences to meet expectations or to surprise

Charles Spence · Jozef Youssef · Carlos Velasco · Charles Michel · Xavier Gamez · Adrian Cheok · Oct 2016

Summary

Does the colour of a dish change how it tastes? Or how you expect it to taste? Recent research demonstrates the existence of a number of surprising associations between seemingly non-related features, such as between basic tastes and colours. These correspondences have been incorporated into a dish called ‘The Four Tastes’ by chef Jozef Youssef. The dish is presented with four separate elements, each having a distinctive colour. Diners are instructed to match the colour to the appropriate taste (bitter, sweet, salty and sour). After establishing the association, one can choose to design tasting experiences that align with these correspondences or else play against them to create surprise. The former strategy typically leads to increased liking, possibly as a result of the diner being able to process the sensory information more fluently. The latter, by contrast, can elicit disconfirmed expectations, which can result in positive or negative experiences. While surprise is something that a growing number of diners are coming to expect when they visit a modernist restaurant, it tends to be a much harder approach to implement successfully in other contexts. Here, we present the literature on colour/taste correspondences, and discuss the implications of crossmodal (in)congruence in food design.

Read the full paper

This paper was published on The International Journal of Food Design on the 13th October 2015.  Click through to read the full paper

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *