Our first instincts about the food we choose 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?
More than half of our cortical area is used for processing sight, but 1-2% is used for processing taste - making the weighting our intellect gives to the importance of sight over flavour very clear.
This is why food manufacturers use devices to monitor the consistency of colour during production. For example, the hue of orange juice in the US is carefully controlled, and the Munsell standards authority prescribes colour standards for everything from French fries to cherries.
The impact of appearance on flavour has been studied extensively, with researchers having great fun tricking their test subjects. Some examples include an orange-coloured cherry drink (that test subjects reported tasted of orange flavour rather than cherry) and a red-coloured sauvignon blanc wine (that test subjects described using words associated with the red wine).
Our minds immediately expect particular flavours when seeing food of a particular colour, largely because of our previous experiences and colour associations of similar food we’ve had before. For this reason, we expect yellow foods to taste sweet, because of the flavour profiles of bananas, or sour, because of the flavour profiles of lemons or grapefruit.
Every now and then, food manufacturers try to change things up a little, with Heinz being a great example with its multi-coloured ranges of tomato sauce a few years ago. While blue, orange or green tomato sauces sound like fun, there’s a disconnect between what we’re seeing and what we’re expecting to taste. While it may have been a great marketing ploy at the time, the fact that you can now only get Heinz tomato sauce in a very "tomatoey" red speaks volumes for the success of that range.
We also expect flavours to be more intense if the colour of our food is more intense.
Kids and colours – not so easily tricked
When it comes to children and food colour associations, Cornell University research showed 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.
Children typically prefer their food to be presented on the lower section of the plate (the area closest to them), positioned in some sort of pattern, while adults prefer their food in the centre of the plate. (Think quickly back to your favourite dish in your favourite restaurant - and how it was plated. In the centre, right?)
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, in six colours. However, they are also more likely to eat food if the adult with them is eating food of the same colour.
There’s a level of instinct and evolution in how we, and especially children, choose food based on colour: fruit and vegetables that are high in the phytochemicals we need to survive are vibrant and brightly coloured - making them more visually appealing, and more likely to be eaten.
We’re wary of dull-coloured foods, or foods that aren’t the colour we expect, because our instincts have evolved to identify these as rotten - and potentially dangerous.
Children are also attracted to brighter colours, explaining why bubblegum milkshakes or crème soda appeal more to the little people of the world. Interestingly, children are not attracted to varying shades of colours, but rather a mixture of the brightest shades available.
There is much more to food and beverage design than you think. That’s why you’ll never find a purple banana milkshake or an orange-coloured vanilla-flavoured smoothie. So much of our taste experience depends on what we see before we eat or drink.