7 Ways to Make Things Taste Better (with Zero Extra Effort)
Here's what a few unusual taste perception experiments found about getting more bang for your bite.
By Jena Pincott
Give Your Tableware More Gravitas
First, swap your flimsy utensils for solid, heavier stainless steel ones. You may enjoy your food more—just as yogurt tasters did in a study at the University of Oxford. Then try heavier tableware: When people ate from a weighty bowl (held in one hand), they liked their food more than when eating it from an identical-looking medium or lightweight one. Subconsciously, heft makes us think "expensive" (and superior), a judgment that transfers to the meal. Bonus insight: Heavier dishes and bowls—made of porcelain, for instance—also trick your brain into thinking the food is denser and more filling, so you may eat less.
Published 09/18/2013