If you’ve ever eaten in a nice restaurant or cafe, you know that the music they play is essential to creating a nice atmosphere and a nice experience overall. What you might not know is that the sounds you hear might actually be influencing what you taste.
Mayukha Pillay is a PhD student at Oxford University looking at what she calls ‘Sonic Seasoning.’ Pillay defines this as the deliberate matching of sounds and music to basic tastes.
“We all have critical cross-modal correspondences in our brains. Essentially, this means that we make automatic associations between different senses,” she explains. “Sometimes these correspondences are important, but sometimes they’re completely arbitrary and our brain decides to keep it anyway.
“One of these is the association between sound and taste. Maybe you will hear a high pitched piano noise, and associate it with sweetness. Oftentimes you hear lower bass notes and think of a bitter taste.”
What sonic seasoning does is take all of these associations our brain makes, and uses them to enhance the flavours in a meal, or bring your attention to them.
One famous example of this being used in a dish is British Chef Heston Blumenthal’s ‘sound of the sea. This dish he created is presented in a wooden box and consists of edible sand, seashells and shellfish, and an edible sea foam. The dish is also presented with a pair of earphones connected to an ipod hidden inside of a shell. The ipod plays out sounds from the seaside. The noise of the waves crashing, and the sound of seagulls is paired with the dish, immersing you in the food.
“Maybe this doesn’t affect the actual taste of the food,” says Pillay, “but most people feel nostalgia, and have memories associated with the sea that the earphones really encourage them to lean into. It increases the overall pleasantness of the experience.
Sonic seasoning is not just used in food, but the drinks industry also takes advantage of this. Becks beer partnered with design and innovation agency AKQA in 2021 to produce Becks Frequency. Using research into sonic seasoning at Oxford University, they teamed up with Brazilian DJ Badista to mix his hits at the low frequency of 73Hz. This low frequency actually bought out the bitterness in their beer, and when higher frequencies were played, it tasted sweeter in comparison.
As to why these sounds affect our taste, Pillay points out that the underlying mechanisms are still being discussed. “It is mostly about the associations our brains make,” she says, “All of our senses come together when we eat. Eating is one of the most multisensory things we can do.
“Some people argue that sonic seasoning works because of priming. It’s like when you hear sizzling bacon while you’re getting ready to eat, and you get to the table and there is no bacon. You don’t have as good an experience eating because your brain created an expectation that you were going to eat bacon.
“The main underlying thing behind sonic seasoning is the idea that it brings your attention to flavours. Because of the associations your brain makes, specific flavours are enhanced.”
As for further uses of sonic seasoning, research is currently focusing on how it can be used to encourage healthier eating. Pillay said: “We can use sonic seasoning to encourage longer mealtimes for patients in hospital, or encourage healthier eating.
“There is a theory that hearing natural noises will make people more likely to choose a healthier option on a menu.”
Sonic seasoning is not something exclusive to chefs with the six michelin stars, or multinational beverage companies. It’s something that you can use in your own life if you want to enjoy your food more. “Congruent music will make you enjoy food you cook more,” says Pillay, “try and match your food to the culture’s music, like playing Italian music if your food is Italian. It makes you feel like the food is more authentic.”