Plating manifesto (II): the art and science of plating

Effect of Shape, Size, and Color of the Food Plate on Consumer Perception of Energy Value, Portion Size, Attractiveness, and Expected Price of Dessert

The development of new dishes in the catering services market requires an understanding of consumers' needs, expectations, and motivations for their choices. The effect of the serving method of a dessert on customers' perceptions of its visual appeal, portion size, energy value, and expected price was evaluated. The study involved the presentation of desserts on plates of various sizes, shapes, and colors. The study was carried out among 1005 respondents using the CAWI method. Our findings revealed that along with an increasing plate size from a diameter of ϕ24-27 cm to ϕ31 cm, the ratings of the dish's perceived appearance (p ≤ 0.001), portion size (p ≤ 0.001), and energy value (p ≤ 0.01) decreased. Plate shape influenced the perceived appearance of the dessert. When placed on a square platter, round desserts were considerably (p ≤ 0.05) less appealing. The color of the plate had a significant influence (p ≤ 0.001) on the dish's perceived appearance and estimated monetary value, and it evoked more sensory-hedonic impressions. Red-plate and white-plate desserts were liked less than black-plate desserts, but color-plated desserts were perceived as more expensive than those served on white dishes. Consumers perceived bright desserts on white plates as traditional, natural, and boring; those on black plates as modern, appetizing, and aesthetic; and those served on red plates as artificial, unsightly, and unappetizing. Higher consumer food neophobia led to a lower rating related to appearance and price perceptions, but elevated perceptions of portion size and energy value appraisal. Our results may be used in the marketing of gastronomic dishes.

Thinking about the bigger picture: Influence of holistic processing on the dishware size effect

Individuals vary in the extent to which they engage in holistic and analytic information processing styles. Holistic processing involves focusing on the interconnectivity and relatedness of items being evaluated, while analytic processing involves focusing on items being judged as discrete elements and independent of context. We examined the contribution of these basic processing styles to the dishware size effect, which proposes that food consumption patterns may be influenced by the size of the dishware (i.e., larger plates increase the amount of food consumed). We observed that participants self-served and consumed more food when using and eating from a larger plate (LP) compared with a smaller plate (SP) (p≤0.01). Importantly, participants who reported greater levels of holistic information processing related to attitudes towards contradictions and attention allocation exhibited smaller variations in portions of food self-served and consumed based on the dishware size used (SP vs. LP). These findings suggest that the susceptibility of individuals to the dishware size effect may be associated with an individual's dispositional tendency to process information in a holistic (vs. analytic) manner.

Tasting More Than Just Food: Effect of Aesthetic Appeal of Plate Patterns on Food Perception

Interest has been growing in the role of subjective aesthetics in the field of food. This study explored the mechanisms by which the aesthetic appeal of plate patterns influences consumers’ perceptions of food. Three experiments were conducted to compare whether different levels of beauty and types of plate pattern aesthetics (classical versus expressive) affected the perceptions of tastiness and healthiness of the food offered. Experiment 1 was carried out with 30 participants, and the results showed that participants perceived the food presented on more beautiful plates as tastier and healthier than the food on less beautiful plates. Experiment 2 was carried out with 128 participants; the results showed that, for expressively aesthetic plates, the participants experienced more positive emotions for very beautiful plates and more negative emotions for less beautiful plates. However, for classical aesthetic plates, participants’ emotions were not affected by the beauty of the plate. Experiment 3 was carried out with 149 participants, and the results showed that, for classically aesthetic plates, participants perceived the food placed in the middle to be tastier than food placed at the edge; however, for expressively aesthetic plates, food placement did not affect participants’ perceptions of food. These results demonstrate the importance of the subjective beauty of plate patterns in influencing consumers’ food perceptions, although this influence varies depending on the type of aesthetic design of the plate pattern.

Food on the Move: The Impact of Implied Motion in Pictures on Food Perceptions through Anticipated Pleasure of Consumption

To tackle obesity, upgrading the image of healthy food is increasingly relevant. Rather than focusing on long-term benefits, an effective way to promote healthy food consumption through visual advertising is to increase its pleasure perception. We investigate whether implied motion, a popular trend in food pictures, affects food perceptions through anticipated consumption pleasure. Prior research shows that motion affects food perceptions, but these studies focused on limited food categories, using experiments with a single food stimulus, and mainly showing unhealthy food effects. Therefore, we aim to (1) replicate prior findings on the effects of food in motion on appeal, tastiness, healthiness, and freshness perceptions; (2) examine whether these effects differ for healthy and unhealthy food; and (3) investigate whether anticipated pleasure of consumption drives the effects of implied motion on food perceptions. Three between-subjects experiments (N = 626) reveal no evidence for the effectiveness of motion (vs. no motion) across a large variety of food products. We further show no differential effects for healthy versus unhealthy foods. Moreover, implied motion does not increase appeal or taste perceptions through anticipated pleasure. Considering the current replication crisis, these findings provide more nuanced insights into the effectiveness of motion in visual food advertising.

Sensory profiling, liking and acceptance of sea urchin gonads from the North Atlantic coast of Portugal, aiming future aquaculture applications

Sea urchin gonads are receiving increasing attention for their exclusive sensorial attributes. However, the sensory profile of this highly demanded gourmet product has not yet been well described, and it may potentially help enhancing the gonads' marketability and acceptability. The main goal of this study was to build a sensory profile of sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) gonads, to evaluate differences between sex, harvest location, as well as the impact of presentation on consumer acceptance. Sixty untrained panellists (regular consumers of seafood) were asked to evaluate eight samples of raw sea urchin gonads, divided by sex, harvest location and presentation (in a clear translucent glass bowl or inside a sea urchin test). The panellists evaluated overall liking and acceptance (Food Action Scale), followed by a Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) ballot with a list of 38 sensory attributes divided into four dimensions: appearance (9), odour (8), texture (7) and taste (14), launched in Sense Gest. From a three-way ANOVA, no significant effect of sex, harvest location and presentation were identified for both liking and acceptance. However, a significant interaction between presentation and sex was identified: females with gourmet presentation were rated higher than females presented in a bowl; and males presented in a bowl were favoured in relation to gourmet presentation. Sensory profiling clearly separates gonads according to sex, with females being more appealing than males that presented a milky white fluid. Gonads were also separated according to the presentation method: the white background of the bowl seemed to highlight the orange colour of females; the gourmet presentation favoured the females in relation to the males, mainly because the male gonad colour and white-colour exudate were emphasized by the background of the sea urchin test. Moreover, the gourmet presentation in both sexes was correlated with a fresh, tropical and pleasant odour. This study concluded that sea urchin with an orange gonad and a sweet, fresh and tropical flavour is preferable, which will allow future nutritional research efforts to be focused on the enhancement of these gonad attributes.

Complexity on the Menu and in the Meal

Complexity is generally perceived to be a desirable attribute as far as the design/delivery of food and beverage experiences is concerned. However, that said, there are many different kinds of complexity, or at least people use the term when talking about quite different things, and not all of them are relevant to the design of food and drink experiences nor are they all necessarily perceptible within the tasting experience (either in the moment or over time). Consequently, the consumer often needs to infer the complexity of a tasting experience that is unlikely to be perceptible (in its entirety) in the moment. This paper outlines a number of different routes by which the chef, mixologist, and/or blender can both design and signal the complexity in the tasting experience.

Odd versus even: a scientific study of the 'rules' of plating

We report on the results of a series of large-scale computer-based preference tests (conducted at The Science Museum in London and online) that evaluated the widely-held belief that food should be plated in odd rather than even numbers of elements in order to maximize the visual appeal of a dish. Participants were presented with pairs of plates of food showing odd versus even number of seared scallops (3 vs. 4; 1-6 in Experiment 7), arranged in a line, as a polygon or randomly, on either a round or square white plate. No consistent evidence for a preference for odd or even numbers of food items was found, thus questioning the oft-made assertion that odd number of items on a plate looks better than an even number. The implications of these results are discussed.

Eating with our eyes: From visual hunger to digital satiation

One of the brain's key roles is to facilitate foraging and feeding. It is presumably no coincidence, then, that the mouth is situated close to the brain in most animal species. However, the environments in which our brains evolved were far less plentiful in terms of the availability of food resources (i.e., nutriments) than is the case for those of us living in the Western world today. The growing obesity crisis is but one of the signs that humankind is not doing such a great job in terms of optimizing the contemporary food landscape. While the blame here is often put at the doors of the global food companies - offering addictive foods, designed to hit 'the bliss point' in terms of the pleasurable ingredients (sugar, salt, fat, etc.), and the ease of access to calorie-rich foods - we wonder whether there aren't other implicit cues in our environments that might be triggering hunger more often than is perhaps good for us. Here, we take a closer look at the potential role of vision; Specifically, we question the impact that our increasing exposure to images of desirable foods (what is often labelled 'food porn', or 'gastroporn') via digital interfaces might be having, and ask whether it might not inadvertently be exacerbating our desire for food (what we call 'visual hunger'). We review the growing body of cognitive neuroscience research demonstrating the profound effect that viewing such images can have on neural activity, physiological and psychological responses, and visual attention, especially in the 'hungry' brain.