With a Hint of Sudachi: Food Plating Can Facilitate the Fondness of Food

Among the senses of food, our subjective sense of taste is significantly influenced by our visual perception. In appetite science, previous research has reported that when we estimate quality in daily life, we rely considerably on visual information. This study focused on the multimodal mental imagery evoked by the visual information of food served on a plate and examined the effect of the peripheral visual information of garnish on the sensory impression of the main dish. A sensory evaluation experiment was conducted to evaluate the impressions of food photographs, and multivariate analysis was used to structure sensory values. It was found that the appearance of the garnish placed on the plates close to the main dish contributes to visual appetite stimulants. It is evident that color, moisture, and taste (sourness and spiciness) play a major role in the acceptability of food. To stimulate one's appetite, it is important to make the main dish appear warm. These results can be used to modulate the eating experience and stimulate appetite. Applying these results to meals can improve the dining experience by superimposing visual information with augmented reality technology or by presenting real appropriate garnishes.

Use of Multi-Intake Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) to Evaluate the Influence of Wine on Cheese Perception

Even if wine and cheese have long been consumed together, there is little sensory evidence on how wine can influence the perception of cheese. In this work 4 cheeses were dynamically characterized in terms of dominant sensations without and with wine consumption in between intakes. The tasting protocol was based on multi-intake temporal dominance of sensations (TDS) coupled with hedonic rating. Frequent wine and cheese consumers (n = 31) evaluated 4 cheeses (Epoisses, Chaource, and 2 different Comté) over 3 consecutive bites. In the following sessions they performed the same task, but taking sips of wine (rosé Riceys, white Burgundy, red Burgundy, and red Beaujolais) between bites. All cheese-wine combinations were tasted over 4 sessions. TDS data were analyzed in terms of attribute duration of dominance by ANOVA, MANOVA, and canonical variate analysis. Results showed that wine consumption had an impact (P < 0.1) on dominance duration of attributes of cheeses, particularly on salty and some aromatic notes. But, as opposed to a previous work done by the same team, wine had no impact on the preference of cheese; this stayed constant under all the evaluating conditions.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

This paper aims to validate an innovative protocol on dynamic sensory data acquisition in which consumers evaluate the impact of a beverage (wine) on a solid food (cheese). This protocol is complementary to a previous one presented in this journal, where the effect of cheese was tested on wine. Together they make up an interesting approach towards developing a new tool for the food sector to better understand the impact of one food product on another. This could lead to a better description of a whole meal, something which is still missing in sensory science.