Break out the good china: what you serve your food on matters

When I start thinking about what to make for lunch or dinner, only rarely do I consider the dinnerware on which we will be eating the food. Our everyday plates are Fiesta Tableware in six different colors that we mix and match with abandon. Pairing a color with a particular food isn’t something I contemplate unless I’m really into getting that perfect shot for the ‘gram. I might want to reconsider this stance after reading an article that discusses how the color of your plates, the metal in your cutlery, and even the size of your fork can affect how you perceive the food you’re eating.

Researchers studying the effect of a plate’s color on the dining experience have found that popcorn eaten from a blue bowl tastes saltier than popcorn served in a white bowl, and a strawberry dessert presented on a white plate was ranked more flavorful than when it was delivered on a black plate. Other attributes including texture, weight, and size have also been shown to have an effect on how we interpret how creamy, intense, or plentiful we find the food, to name but a few examples. A concept called ‘sensation transference’ may explain these results, but researchers do not fully understand the mechanism behind it.

Multiple variables are at play in any dining experience, and changing one variable can result in different perceptions of another attribute. For example, when researchers gave people different sizes of forks in a restaurant setting, the amount of food people consumed was inversely proportional to the size of the utensil. However, when studied in a laboratory environment the effect was completely reversed, with people eating less food if they used a smaller fork.

A University of Michigan study from several years ago found that for some people, breaking out the good china might make food taste better. For ‘haptically oriented’ individuals – those who like to touch things – the material mattered less, but those who are not haptically oriented reported that food tasted better when served in vessels they perceived to be of higher quality. “People who inherently like to touch and feel objects do so very often, compared to people who do not care as much about touching,” professor Aradhna Krishna said. “Over time, they develop an expertise in understanding when touch is related to the inherent product quality and when it is not…they are less likely to be ‘misled’ about product quality created by differences in haptic input.”

I am haptically oriented, so I might not perceive food tasting better just because it’s served on a beautiful plate. I’ve been happy with my Fiesta pieces for a number of reasons – the material is durable, the colors are fun, and the product is made in West Virginia, where I lived for many years. However, I was recently smitten by the William Morris-inspired dinnerware and linens from Williams-Sonoma. (This is not an affiliate link; I just love the design.) Since I live in an Arts and Crafts-style bungalow, it would fit the aesthetic of my house. I’ve never been into highly-designed dinnerware because I think fussy patterns can clash with the food, but maybe I’m overthinking things. Perhaps the salad really would taste better if I serve it on one of those gorgeous plates.