Do you want your kids to eat their vegetables? Play them tubular bells! “Ringing” sounds could make vegetables taste sweeter in the “sonic seasoning” effect, experts say
- Over 100 people rated different foods while listening to different types of music
- They ate samples of baby carrots, baby cucumbers, and two types of biscuits
- Music rated “sweet” with “ringing” sounds seemed to make vegetables taste sweeter
- A psychologist from the University of Oxford has dubbed the technique “sonic seasoning”.
Getting a child to eat their vegetables is a struggle familiar to most parents and grandparents.
But the solution could be as simple as putting some music on, a study suggests.
Researchers found that “sweet” tunes also make vegetables taste sweeter.
Getting a child to eat their vegetables is a struggle familiar to most parents and grandparents. But the solution could be as simple as putting some music on, a study suggests
Researchers from the ISCTE University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal asked 106 people to rate different foods while listening to different types of music.
They ate samples of baby carrots, baby cucumbers, and two types of biscuits while listening to soundtracks extracted from a research database that had previously been rated for “sweetness.”
While these tunes are not known to the general public, other well-known tunes that have been classified as “cute” are Saties Trois Gymnopédies No.2 Lent et triste, Camille Saint Saens – Carnival of the Animals – Aquarium and Track Seven by Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells .
“You’re looking for something with ringing, high-pitched sounds,” said Oxford University professor Charles Spence, an experimental psychologist who wasn’t involved in the current study.
Professor Spence, an expert on matching food and music, has dubbed the technique “sonic seasoning.”
WHAT SHOULD A BALANCED DIET LOOK LIKE?
Meals should be based on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates, ideally whole grain, according to the NHS
• Eat at least 5 servings of varied fruit and vegetables daily. All fresh, frozen, dried and canned fruits and vegetables count
• Base meals based on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates, ideally whole grains
• 30 grams of fiber per day: This equates to eating all of the following: 5 servings of fruit and vegetables, 2 whole wheat biscuits, 2 thick slices of whole wheat bread, and 1 large baked potato with its skin on
• Have some dairy products or dairy alternatives (like soy drinks) and choose lower-fat, lower-sugar options
• Eat some beans, legumes, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins (including 2 servings of fish per week, one of which should be oily)
• Choose unsaturated oils and spreads and consume them in small amounts
• Drink 6-8 cups/glasses of water daily
• Adults should consume less than 6g of salt and 20g of saturated fat for women or 30g for men per day
Source: NHS Eatwell Guide
The Portuguese team found that people perceived the food to be about five percent sweeter while listening to a high sweetness soundtrack, compared to a low sweetness soundtrack, which they described as having a moderately large effect.
While making music isn’t the same as “adding a spoonful of sugar to food, it still appears to be an effective strategy to improve perceptions of sweetness,” said lead author Dr. David Guedes.
While previous studies have tended to focus on “very tasty” foods such as ice cream, chocolate, and wine and beer, the team believe their study marks the “first time a sonic seasoning approach has been applied to increase the acceptability of vegetables.” support financially”.
“Taken together, these results suggest that extrinsic sensory cues, namely music, may help reduce sugar intake by increasing acceptance of lower-sugar products,” they wrote in their research, published in the journal Food Quality and Preference has been published.
Why people associate music and taste at all, explained Dr. Guedes that this could be because eating is a multi-sensory experience.
“What we perceive as taste is a combination of taste and smell, and eating involves all of the senses,” he said.
“We drool at the sight of delicious food and crave certain textures, like the crispiness of a chip or the softness of a marshmallow.
“Sounds are also an important part of the eating experience, although auditioning isn’t typically the first sensory modality that springs to mind when we think of food.
“Some sounds are essential to the perception of food.
“We can’t imagine eating popcorn or biting into an apple without the chewing sounds.
“Similarly, many sounds create expectations about what we’re about to consume, such as the bubbling sound of a fizzy drink telling us we’re about to drink something sparkling and possibly refreshing.”
Professor Spence said: “I think of it as using sound to draw people’s attention to something in the taste experience.
“When we pay attention to things, they become clearer in our experience.
“Hence, you can add five to ten percent of something that’s normally used with the right sonic spice.
“My colleagues are checking the brain to see if the flavor map is there [the] The primary taste cortex shows a different focus of activation, ie more towards the sweet part for sweet music [is] played more towards the bitter realm than bitter music [is] played.’