Introduction:
The taste buds, which are located on the tongue, detect the flavor of a food item, thereby helping to identify the food. However, the color of the food plays a vital role in guessing the flavor and selection of food. Perception of food is achieved by multisensory experience. Among different senses, the sense of sight is the most important one that aids in giving a first impression of the food before tasting it. The food's color may influence the flavor's recognition and intensity.
How Is Sensing of Food Done?
Sensing food is the process of analyzing the properties of a particular food item through different senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste). The senses used to identify the various properties of food are as follows:
-
The Appearance of Food - Using sight, touch, and hearing.
-
The Odor of Food - Using smell.
-
The Flavor of Food- Using taste and smell.
How Do Senses Influence the Identification of Food?
The role played by senses in the identification of food are as follows:
Sight:
Eyes play a major role in identifying the food color, which in turn aids in guessing the flavor of the food. Usually, human beings associate certain colors with specific foods. As the color of the food increases, the perception of the taste and flavor of the food also increases. Research shows that foods that are either not colored or discolored are more difficult to identify than colored foods. People who have impaired vision or color blindness have difficulty identifying certain foods, which leads to a reduced ability to judge foods based on nutritional value and taste.
Smell:
Smell helps to identify the various flavors of foods and drinks without seeing them. Researchers believe that multiple smells help people to link food items to valuable nutrients. For example, a person experiencing a fruity smell may link the food item to vitamin C or sugar, whereas a person experiencing a meaty smell links the food item to iron and vitamin B.
Hearing:
The crunch and crackles heard while eating foods like potato chips and cookies help contribute towards the enjoyment of eating. The sizzles heard during the cooking process also help to enhance the enjoyment of eating.
Touch:
The sense of touch helps to identify the texture of the food. For example, a person touching a crunchy or chewy textured food item links it to a biscuit, and a slimy or slippery textured food item to jelly. Apart from the fingers, the texture of the food is also felt by the teeth, tongue, and palate inside the mouth. The texture of the food felt by the teeth, palate, and tongue helps in identifying the nature of food which in turn helps in evaluating the force required by the jaw and teeth to break down the food.
Taste:
Even in the absence of all other senses, the sense of taste helps to identify the food. Taste sense gives an idea about the nutritional qualities of the food. In the olden days, people used to identify poisonous plants through their bitter taste and unripened fruits through their sour taste.
How Does Color Affect the Perception of Food?
-
Color plays a vital role in building up people’s expectations of a food item. This is because the color is the first factor noticed in the appearance of a food item.
-
Studies have shown that changing the color of a particular food item without changing its composition has caused dramatic changes in people’s expectations of that food.
-
Colors may be associated with particular flavors in food products like yogurts, ice creams, and fruit drinks. For example, the pink color is related to the strawberry flavor, the yellow color is associated with the mango flavor, and the blue color is related to the blueberry flavor.
-
Along with the color of the food, the color of the packaging also acts as a critical feature in determining the flavor and attractiveness of a food product. The color of the food labels is taken into consideration by some people during the perception of food.
-
The color of the plates and cups used to serve the food also affects the perception of food.
-
Research conducted on typical-colored foods like blue-colored potatoes and green-colored carrots showed that people considered such food products to be less familiar and unhealthy than the normally colored food products.
How Do Colors Manipulate Food Products?
Manufacturers are using many artificial colors to manipulate food products. The impression of a particular taste is brought to the food by using dyes or food colors in packaged, processed, or fresh foods. For example, the red color added artificially to the skin of the apple makes the consumer believe that the apple is sweeter and tastier. A strawberry-flavored fruit drink manipulated to be orange color was considered an orange drink by many people. Artificial colors are sometimes used to bring color to colorless food products or enhance the food's existing natural color. This is commonly seen in the seafood industry where low-quality and locally grown salmon that normally has a gray color is dyed into pink to make it look like fresh and premium quality salmon. Artificial colors are also being added to reduce the color loss of certain food products during the manufacturing process due to variations in temperature, light exposure, and storage conditions.
Conclusion:
The color of a food product plays a key role in liking, acceptance, and intake of the food. Even though the color of the food creates a positive effect in the minds of people, one should be able to eliminate the foods involving artificial colors, which cause negative health and well-being consequences in people. Methods to color foods using natural coloring agents like beetroot and orange jelly can be employed to decrease the usage of harmful artificial colorants. To enjoy the long-term benefits of a food product, people should not choose a product just based on color. Avoiding artificially colored foods and using multisensory experience in choosing the right food helps lead a healthy and happy life.
