By Charlie Glaspell-Elser
We’re all familiar with that kid, or it might be yourself, who divides their fruit loops, separates their skittles, or rushes to receive the light green popsicle when distributed, because green is definitely the best flavour. This may be caused by their preference for apple or lime, but maybe their mind is deceiving them into thinking it’s a flavour they enjoy.
The colour of a food or beverage significantly influences the perception of taste and is the most product-intrinsic sense regarding the expectation of a likely taste. This phenomenon was proven in many studies, but take this one as an example: In a Dubose study, subjects tasted 4 cups of drink, consisting of lemon-lime, cherry, grape, and orange drink, but with alternate colours, to the usual colours you associate them with. When the subjects tasted the drinks and were able to see the “normal colours,” they guessed the flavours with 100% accuracy. However, when they were blinded, the accuracy was far worse; 70% of the people who tasted the grape drink said it was grape. And 30% of the people who had the cherry drink, said they had tasted cherry. And the study concluded that the participants were significantly more likely to identify a flavour if it was accompanied by the appropriate colour.
|
What People Said (%) |
|||||
|
Real Flavour |
GR |
LL |
CH |
OR |
OTHER |
|
Grape |
70 |
15 |
5 |
0 |
10 |
|
Lemon-Lime |
15 |
50 |
5 |
15 |
15 |
|
Cherry |
0 |
40 |
30 |
10 |
20 |
|
Orange |
0 |
50 |
5 |
20 |
25 |
So green is not a flavour, but it has an immense effect on how you perceive the flavour it accompanies. This occurs, but why?
There isn’t a single answer, but researchers have found one possibility - the expectancy-based effect. This concept is that the colour of a food item tells your mind what to expect, and that expectation countermands the actual taste, reality. This idea resembles that of the placebo where a patient's beliefs of a treatment modify their experience. And the idea that colours have an effect on the other senses has actual impacts. A vintner, or wine seller, I observed in a video said that the colour and intensity of the wine are equally critical to its flavor.
Therefore, we as humans incorporate the colour of a substance into our perception of taste. So, you can continue separating your coloured food, but you should acknowledge the taste is the same.