Abstract
Research has demonstrated that factors external to the food source can influence consumers’ perceptions of food. Contextual factors including cutlery or tableware (for example, size and composition), the atmosphere (for example, noise levels and odours), and packaging (for example, shape and colour) have all been shown to influence the perceptual experience. Plateware has also been shown to influence taste perception since ratings of a dessert (strawberry mousse) were modified by plate colour but not by plate shape. In the current study, which used a 2 × 2 between-subjects design, the effect of plate colour (black versus white) and plate shape (round versus square) on taste perception is re-examined. Through sweetness, intensity, quality, and liking ratings of cheesecake, the current study extends the previous investigation to include an examination of the plate colour by plate shape interaction while using plates with more angular corners. Judgments made on simple elemental properties (sweetness and flavour intensity) and higher level compound property judgments (food quality or food liking) were shown to be differentially influenced by the interaction of plate colour and plate shape. Both elemental and compound property judgments were heightened by white round plates while compound judgments were also increased when food was presented on black square plates. The results suggest that plate colour and shape influence taste perception but not in a straight-forward manner and instead the influence depends on the interaction of the two variables. Depending on which attribute of the perceptual experience is more important, knowledge of this interaction could be used advantageously by the culinary community.
Highlights
Research has demonstrated that factors external to the food source can influence consumers’ perceptions of food
The current study examined two factors external to the food source, plate shape and plate colour
A third possibility is that the interactions we observed in our study may have been observed in the Piqueras-Fiszman et al study had they been evaluated [27]. The results of this experiment suggest that the influence of plate colour and shape on taste perception is, not surprisingly, more complex than expected
Summary
Research has demonstrated that factors external to the food source can influence consumers’ perceptions of food. Along with the gustatory response, it is commonly recognized that what a food smells like (olfactory cues), how it looks (visual cues), and how it feels in your mouth or hands (somatosensory cues) all influence the resulting perception of taste. The current study examined two factors external to the food source, plate shape and plate colour, Research has shown that the manipulation of a variety of food-specific cue types will influence various aspects of taste perception. In two experiments, Stevenson, Prescott, and Boakes [4] paired 20 different odours with sucrose taste solutions (E1) and citric acid taste solutions (E2) They found that odours with a strong learned association with sweetness (for example, caramel) enhanced sweetness ratings and suppressed sour ratings, thereby showing the importance of learning and memory in taste perception. The smell of strawberries led to a sweetness enhancement and a soy sauce odour increased ratings of saltiness
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
