Make food more appealing with colour
JOBURG – Want to make vegetables more appealing to your kids? Just add some colour!
Our first instincts about the food we choose and enjoy are in response to what food looks like – not least, what colour it is.
Chrissy Beedle, executive manager of research and product development at Slo-Jo explains why adults and children select the food and drinks they do, based on colour and flavour.
Are we being tricked by the colour of food?
Research shows that our brains process colour better than taste, so food manufacturers use devices to monitor the consistency of colour during production.
For example, the hue of orange juice in the United States is carefully controlled because people assign tastes to colours based on previous experience, and the Munsell standards authority prescribes colour standards for everything from French fries to cherries.
Read: 5 Low-fat foods that are actually bad for you
The impact of appearance on flavour has been studied extensively, with researchers having great fun tricking their test subjects – like with an orange-coloured cherry drink that test subjects reported tasted of orange flavour rather than cherry.
Kids and colours – not so easily tricked!
When it comes to children and food colour associations, Cornell University research showed that the colour of food has less to do with children’s food choices than with how their food is presented to them, and what their parents eat.
Read: Healthy Friday: 8 superfoods that will go easy on your pocket
Children typically prefer their food to be presented in the area closest to them, in some sort of pattern, while adults prefer their food in the centre of the plate.
Interestingly, while adults prefer three elements on their dish, children are more likely to eat what’s presented to them if there are seven components to the meal, in six colours. However, they are also more likely to eat food if the adult with them is eating food of the same colour.
Children are also attracted to brighter colours, explaining why bubblegum milkshakes or crème soda’s appeal more to the little people of the world.
That’s why you’ll never find a purple banana milkshake or an orange-coloured vanilla-flavoured smoothie at restaurants. So much of our taste experience depends on what we see before we eat or drink.
Details: www.slo-jo.co.za
Tweet @City_Buzz_ and let us know what your favourite colourful drink is, this winter.
