The taste of cutlery: how the taste of food is affected by the weight, size, shape, and colour of the cutlery used to eat it
Harrar and Spence report three experiments on whether the cutlery you eat with changes the taste of the food, varying weight, size, colour and shape independently. Yoghurt was perceived as denser and more expensive when tasted from a lighter plastic spoon than from artificially weighted spoons, and spoon size interacted with weight only for perceived sweetness. The colour of the cutlery moved taste ratings, but the effects depended on the colour of the food as well, which points at colour contrast rather than at any colour carrying a taste of its own. Food was rated saltiest when sampled from a knife rather than from a spoon, fork or toothpick. The authors read the whole pattern through disconfirmed expectation: the effects appear most strongly where the object in the hand, or the food, is not what the person was braced for. This is the study this publication cites for the claim that the tableware is part of the product.
Harrar and Spence report three experiments on whether the cutlery you eat with changes the taste of the food, varying weight, size, colour and shape independently. Yoghurt was perceived as denser and more expensive when tasted from a lighter plastic spoon than from artificially weighted spoons, and spoon size interacted with weight only for perceived sweetness. The colour of the cutlery moved taste ratings, but the effects depended on the colour of the food as well, which points at colour contrast rather than at any colour carrying a taste of its own. Food was rated saltiest when sampled from a knife rather than from a spoon, fork or toothpick. The authors read the whole pattern through disconfirmed expectation: the effects appear most strongly where the object in the hand, or the food, is not what the person was braced for. This is the study this publication cites for the claim that the tableware is part of the product.
Written from the abstract, OpenAlex.
What our sources record
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2, 21. Yoghurt denser and more expensive from a lighter spoon; cutlery colour effects depended on food colour; food rated saltiest from a knife. doi:10.1186/2044-7248-2-21
Where we use it
- Why Your Coffee Tastes Different in a White Cup, Why We Crave
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The source
https://doi.org/10.1186/2044-7248-2-21
DOI: 10.1186/2044-7248-2-21