Assessing the influence of the color of the plate on the perception of a complex food in a restaurant setting
Piqueras-Fiszman, Giboreau and Spence tested plate colour where it matters, in a working restaurant, with complex food and diners who had come out to eat. Earlier studies had shown that identical foods served on differently coloured plates are perceived differently, but none had checked whether that generalises outside controlled conditions. Three desserts were served on a white or a black plate in a between-participants design. Plate colour exerted a significant influence on how the food was perceived, and the size of that influence varied by dessert. Colour contrast alone could not account for the pattern, and the authors suggest colour-flavour associations, such as black with intense or sophisticated chocolate, were also at work. The detail that makes the study useful is the consistency: for each dessert, the same plate produced the higher scores across every attribute rated. The authors conclude that plate colour matters even in realistic and less controlled conditions.
Piqueras-Fiszman, Giboreau and Spence tested plate colour where it matters, in a working restaurant, with complex food and diners who had come out to eat. Earlier studies had shown that identical foods served on differently coloured plates are perceived differently, but none had checked whether that generalises outside controlled conditions. Three desserts were served on a white or a black plate in a between-participants design. Plate colour exerted a significant influence on how the food was perceived, and the size of that influence varied by dessert. Colour contrast alone could not account for the pattern, and the authors suggest colour-flavour associations, such as black with intense or sophisticated chocolate, were also at work. The detail that makes the study useful is the consistency: for each dessert, the same plate produced the higher scores across every attribute rated. The authors conclude that plate colour matters even in realistic and less controlled conditions.
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2, 24. Three desserts, white or black plate, between-participants, in a real restaurant; plate colour significantly influenced perception, varying by dessert, with colour-flavour associations implicated alongside contrast. doi:10.1186/2044-7248-2-24
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https://doi.org/10.1186/2044-7248-2-24
DOI: 10.1186/2044-7248-2-24