Comments on: The Flavor of Color http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/ Focused on food. Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:24:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Chelsea http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4897 Chelsea Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:18:47 +0000 http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4897 Very interesting. I recall when some brand decided it would be cool to make ketchup in green and purple. The green was fine, as green is a color that CAN be associated with savory food. Purple, however, is almost always associated with fruit in my house and both my father and myself found our brains were entirely confused at a purple tomato product. The mind is such an amazing thing... Very interesting. I recall when some brand decided it would be cool to make ketchup in green and purple. The green was fine, as green is a color that CAN be associated with savory food. Purple, however, is almost always associated with fruit in my house and both my father and myself found our brains were entirely confused at a purple tomato product. The mind is such an amazing thing…

]]> By: Dragan http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4894 Dragan Sun, 13 Apr 2008 02:42:41 +0000 http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4894 Good read, I never thought about food from that point of view. We use our senses so much to experience food nowdays. Here in Spain, we always make "paella" with orange food coloring! If it hasn't, it isn't paella anymore! :) Very interesting, thanks! Good read, I never thought about food from that point of view. We use our senses so much to experience food nowdays. Here in Spain, we always make “paella” with orange food coloring! If it hasn’t, it isn’t paella anymore! :) Very interesting, thanks!

]]> By: FineFuriousLife http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4892 FineFuriousLife Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:58:04 +0000 http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4892 One more thing: There's a French cookbook that deliberately plays with colour expectations and disorientation, like Heston Blumenthal's red/orange jellies. http://gr1desel.canalblog.com/archives/2007/01/29/3846603.html Everything that looks like a familiar dessert is savoury, and vice versa. Pink pralines are breaded and deep-fried into something that looks like chicken goujons, a mushroom veloute is served in a clear mug like hot chocolate... ok, some of it's a bit gross but it's kind of fun, too. One more thing:

There’s a French cookbook that deliberately plays with colour expectations and disorientation, like Heston Blumenthal’s red/orange jellies.

http://gr1desel.canalblog.com/archives/2007/01/29/3846603.html

Everything that looks like a familiar dessert is savoury, and vice versa. Pink pralines are breaded and deep-fried into something that looks like chicken goujons, a mushroom veloute is served in a clear mug like hot chocolate… ok, some of it’s a bit gross but it’s kind of fun, too.

]]> By: FineFuriousLife http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4891 FineFuriousLife Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:47:25 +0000 http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4891 Really interesting post. I remember one night at cooking school, our garde manger chef put some leftover quenelles of savoury beet sorbet out on the family meal table, near some extra moelleux au chocolat cakes. The colour of the sorbet screamed "berry" and so a bunch of people took sorbet to have with the chocolate. It took a couple of seconds to process what they had just put in their mouth before people were utterly grossed out. Colour definitely creates expectation, and if the expectation is not met, it can be really disorienting. Really interesting post.

I remember one night at cooking school, our garde manger chef put some leftover quenelles of savoury beet sorbet out on the family meal table, near some extra moelleux au chocolat cakes. The colour of the sorbet screamed “berry” and so a bunch of people took sorbet to have with the chocolate. It took a couple of seconds to process what they had just put in their mouth before people were utterly grossed out. Colour definitely creates expectation, and if the expectation is not met, it can be really disorienting.

]]> By: Chuck http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4885 Chuck Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:07:10 +0000 http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4885 Great post. Your experiment with the cherry sauce brings home the point that you can't just ask people what they like about something and expect them to get it right. We're very bad at consciously evaluating our inner emotional state. Vaguely relatedly, there was a study awhile ago that found the thing most highly correlated with travelers rating airline seats as uncomfortable was how late their flight was. I'm sure this kind of thing happens all the time in the front of the house as well -- people might rate a server poorly if the room is too loud, for example. Great post. Your experiment with the cherry sauce brings home the point that you can’t just ask people what they like about something and expect them to get it right. We’re very bad at consciously evaluating our inner emotional state. Vaguely relatedly, there was a study awhile ago that found the thing most highly correlated with travelers rating airline seats as uncomfortable was how late their flight was. I’m sure this kind of thing happens all the time in the front of the house as well — people might rate a server poorly if the room is too loud, for example.

]]> By: Aaron http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4883 Aaron Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:35:29 +0000 http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4883 Hi Dana, I work at a very special ice cream shop and your words concur with what I experience every day. We struggle, as we use only natural products, to make ice creams the color they "should" be. It's just that Rose-Pistachio just doesn't sell if it isn't pink; people simply don't make the sensory connection between how it looks and how it tastes. We've gotten pretty creative with colorings; it's amazing the things you can harness to change a color without noticeably altering the flavor. Hi Dana,
I work at a very special ice cream shop and your words concur with what I experience every day. We struggle, as we use only natural products, to make ice creams the color they “should” be. It’s just that Rose-Pistachio just doesn’t sell if it isn’t pink; people simply don’t make the sensory connection between how it looks and how it tastes. We’ve gotten pretty creative with colorings; it’s amazing the things you can harness to change a color without noticeably altering the flavor.

]]> By: Michael Natkin http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4881 Michael Natkin Mon, 07 Apr 2008 03:58:52 +0000 http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4881 Humans have absolutely pathetic noses compared to most other mammals, so we historically had to rely greatly on our sense of sight to tell us what was good to eat and what wasn't. So it makes sense that we make very fine visual distinctions and that it impacts our perception of "goodness". I love your cherry experiment in particular, that really puts it in fine focus. No pun intended. Humans have absolutely pathetic noses compared to most other mammals, so we historically had to rely greatly on our sense of sight to tell us what was good to eat and what wasn’t. So it makes sense that we make very fine visual distinctions and that it impacts our perception of “goodness”. I love your cherry experiment in particular, that really puts it in fine focus. No pun intended.

]]> By: Leslie http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4880 Leslie Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:16:52 +0000 http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4880 I just made a savory beet dish from a Madhur Jaffrey recipe and she made a comment before the recipe that a friend of hers refused to eat it because it is fuschia. I made it and it IS like super fuschia and it was a little disconcerting to eat something that is savory but that looks the color of raspberry ice cream. So I think it works in reverse too: too vivid colors that are highly evocative of specific flavors can be a little confusing to the diner. I just made a savory beet dish from a Madhur Jaffrey recipe and she made a comment before the recipe that a friend of hers refused to eat it because it is fuschia. I made it and it IS like super fuschia and it was a little disconcerting to eat something that is savory but that looks the color of raspberry ice cream. So I think it works in reverse too: too vivid colors that are highly evocative of specific flavors can be a little confusing to the diner.

]]> By: lindsey http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4879 lindsey Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:44:52 +0000 http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4879 I'm glad you remember bubble gum ice cream as being pink because I do as well. When I wanted to make some over the summer my coworkers kept telling me it was bright blue! Curious to know how you flavored it... I’m glad you remember bubble gum ice cream as being pink because I do as well. When I wanted to make some over the summer my coworkers kept telling me it was bright blue! Curious to know how you flavored it…

]]> By: David W. Cowles http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4878 David W. Cowles Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:43:45 +0000 http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/04/05/the-flavor-of-color/#comment-4878 You're absolutely right! A few drops of yellow food coloring changes a liquid the color of dishwater into delicious chicken soup. You’re absolutely right! A few drops of yellow food coloring changes a liquid the color of dishwater into delicious chicken soup.

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