Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

How senses are essential in creating our food experience

Rasha-al-Raisi
Rasha-al-Raisi
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In his book Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating, Professor Charles Spence — head of Crossmodal Research Laboratory at Oxford University — reveals how our senses are essential in creating our food experience.


He writes thoroughly about the effect of each sense: taste, smell, sight, sound and touch on how we perceive food and how scientific research done in his lab is used not only to enhance the eating experience at Michelin star restaurants but also in airlines and food companies.


What makes this book unique is that it sheds light on the fact that in many restaurants nothing is left to coincidence; everything is based on research that leads always to one thing: how to make your customers enjoy the experience and come back again no matter how much they’re paying. Every small detail seems to matter from interior design of the place, the intensity of lights and tempo of music played to how complicated the menu is (how many dishes are being offered), the colour and size of cutlery and how comfortable the seats should be (i.e., how long are you willing to let your customers stay?).


Although all of the aforementioned factors are important in creating a memorable experience, the most important one that people would always remember is — unfortunately not the dishes that they’d consumed as this is forgotten within hours — but rather the customer service offered. But even that should be done in moderation as over-friendly staff that use first name bases and google personal information before their customers show up to the restaurant made many uncomfortable.


Professor Spence also shares different studies done in his lab and explains how our senses could be easily deceived when manipulating our surroundings. For example: coffee always tastes better from a white mug than a black one or when it has our initials written on it and how food alignment on a plate determines whether we’ll enjoy it or not.


The book also includes a futuristic look on how dining experiences would be enhanced from serving food on tablets and using background sounds that ensures total immersion in the experience (e.g.: serving seafood on a tablet that has a beach background while hearing the sound of waves from a headphone) to using different cutleries made from specific material and robots working as chefs to ensure that dishes taste the same all the time.


Generally speaking, Gastrophysics is interesting with so much information that changes the way you look at food and marvel at the amount of money spent to ensure customer’s satisfaction. However, there are parts that felt either slow or a bit repeated (due to studies covered in previous chapters).


Also, the emphasis on high end restaurants with international chefs and dishes that would cost thousands of pounds was hard for an Arab like me to understand as such restaurants are rare in my part of the world. Even the money spent on research and gadgets to make food taste better or fresher, felt so strange to me culturally as we grow up appreciating whatever food is served and calling it a blessing.


Besides being bored of food is something that is only related to spoiled children or unruly teenagers as adults always appreciate it especially when served in social gatherings. Nevertheless, one part of the book that could be applied globally is the new culture of taking pictures of dishes served and posting them on social media — something that many restaurants rely on as free advertisement. Professor Spence’s prose is easy, simple and recommended for anyone who’s interested in the fascinating combination of food and science.


(Rasha al Raisi is a certified skills trainer and the author of: The World According to Bahja. rashabooks@yahoo.com)


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