One of my initiatives in partnership with the Hein Wagner Academy is Dinner in the Dark – a fine dining experience catered by the visually impaired which gives the sighted a ‘glimpse’ into the lives of those who live life in the dark.
If you’re interested in offering your high-end clients, team or loved ones a unique experience that will titillate their senses, feel free to get in touch to book your dinner in the dark event.
Since most of us are taking some downtime and spending time with family, chances are we’re also indulging our tastebuds with wholesome snacks and exquisite delicacies. So let’s take a look at some ways to prepare a meal for all senses, starting with colour. If you’re wondering why colour and light may matter for the visually impaired, stick around for our next articles in this series to understand some myths around blindness and visual design and what most people get wrong.
Catering to all Senses
Multisensory food experiences are not just a ‘nice to have’, but essential for enjoying food. In fact, scientists view ‘flavour perception’ as a phenomenon, since it uses multiple senses to build a concept around a certain flavour or food – something which is entirely unique to eating. For most other activities we tend to have a dominant sense – whether sight, smell, hearing and so forth.
We’re not going to create a 7-course meal plan for you. This would be quite impossible, since the purpose of a multisensory dining experience is to cater to your particular diners. This would require you to consider their ages, dietary requirements (whether for health or religious reasons), as well as the available foodstuffs, budget, prepping time, storage facilities and environmental factors.
What we’ll focus on instead, are pointers on foods with interesting characteristics, and some interesting scientific titbits to explain how and why some combinations will work, and why others won’t.
NOTE: THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS ARTICLE WAS ACCURATE AT THE TIME OF PUBLICATION. SINCE THE TOPICS RELATE TO UNUSUAL RESEARCH FINDINGS, THEY MAY CONFLICT WITH OTHER RESEARCH. PLEASE REFER TO OUR REFERENCES AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE FOR MORE INFORMATION.
Colour Psychology of Food
There’s fascinating research around colour and dining which relates to the food itself, the cutlery and crockery, décor, lighting and everything in between.
What makes this so fascinating is that we have quite contradictory emotional reactions to the colour of the food we eat compared to the colour of everything else in our surroundings.
Since you’re bound to ask yourself why a blog by a blind man would focus on colour –remember that blindness falls on a spectrum, and most people who are legally blind still have some sight. In fact, the effective use of light and colour is one of the best ways to ‘spoil’ partially sighted individuals, since there’s a good chance that they will actually be able to make out food and décor if done right.
Ecological Valence Theory and colour preference
Behavioural scientists have studied human colour preferences for ages – and the results are quite universal. Yet the reason for our preferences baffled scientists for some time.
Ecological Valence Theory (EVT) claims that our preference for colours is predominantly influenced by the objects we associate with those colours. This theory has been all but confirmed through empirical tests. But there’s some contradictory research when it comes to food and dining, at least it appears contradictory at first.
You see, EVT research indicates that people predominantly indicates that people prefer active colours over passive, light colours over heavy, and cool colours over warm. When users were asked to indicate their preference for certain tea brews, however, they far preferred brews with language hinting at warmth and heat in the descriptions, as well as warm colours. But this actually ties in with EVT, since tea is predominantly consumed as a warm beverage around the world – so words that hint at cold/cooling and cool tones create a mental conflict.
In addition to the colour likes and dislikes above, there are also differences in the intensity of colours. Women prefer softer tones and tints (colour + white), while men prefer shades (colour + black). Interestingly, women can identify far more colours by specific names than men
Print vs digital colour
Print and digital colours are created and processed quite divergently.
Digital displays use an overlay of red, green and blue light at values of 0 – 255:
- Red = R:255; G:0; B:0
- Green = R:0; G:255, B:0
- Blue = R:0; G:0; B:255
- Yellow = R:255; G:255; B:0
- Cyan = R:0; G:255; B:255
- Magenta = R:255; G:0; B:255
- White = R:255; G:255; B:255
- Black = R:0; G:0; B:0
Printing requires different “plates” of cyan, magenta, yellow and black, with less of each ‘colour’ added for specific outputs at 0 – 100%. Producing print colours are a bit more tricky, which is why there is a separate ‘black/key’ plate which can be mixed at different intensities.
Unlike digital, simply using a 100% black plate won’t render a dark black appearance. Instead, all colours must be set at 100% OR mixed for specific visual effects:
- RGB black = C:63; M:52; Y:51; K:100
- Neutral black = C:60; M:40; Y:40; K:100
- Warm black = C:0; M:60; Y:30; K:100
- Cool black = C:60; M:0; Y:0; K:100
Brown should be used literally
Behavioural testing indicates that brown is one of the most universally disliked colours (27% of men and 20% of women dislike it). If you consider EVT, it’s easy to understand why it’s disliked, as the most common association we have is with excrement and rotting. Similarly, we prefer butterflies over moths, since we associate moths with food infestations and degradation of linen (even if numerous butterflies bear the same colours as moths).
And yet there’s a flipside to this. While brown is disliked by people worldwide, we do like brown when it is used in its literal representation of an object. Brown wood, leather, ceramics, bricks, coffee, seeds, nuts, chocolate and even rocks, soil and autumn leaves are all viewed favourably since the colour and object have a literal correlation that isn’t confusing to interpret.
What does this mean? Well, if you want to incorporate brown into your setting, use wooden tables, and plain ceramic pots which aren’t artificially coloured, and brown foods which are easily recognisable for what they are. Gravy and chocolate sauces or glazes are a few exceptions to this rule.
The illusion of creaminess
To understand how appearance affects taste, researchers used VR headsets to alter the appearance of coffee sampled by participants. They wanted to gauge if the shade of coffee affected the way it tasted, which was confirmed as testers rated lighter coffee creamier than the alternative, even though this coffee contained no milk.
Why blue is limited to party snacks
We don’t generally see blue food colouring outside of icing and snacks for kids parties, and there’s an interesting hypothesis for this. Scientists posit that the colour is historically associated with danger, creating an inherent signal for danger. Since it is the rarest colour in nature, it is also associated with unnaturalness.
For instance:
- ‘Blue’ meat is associated with undercooking
- Bruised stems of certain mushrooms turn blue to indicate possible toxic chemicals
- The slight blue tinge of nightshade berries signal an alert, since the leaves and berries of edible black nightshade and poisonous deadly nightshade have a similar appearance
- Bluish mould on foods is associated with toxicity in general
- The popular sumac spice resembles poisonous sumac. While they are not the same species, the nomenclature and resemblance makes us weary of testing these
Our brains therefore act with caution when viewing blue colours, or at least this used to be the case. Ironically, the use of bright blue colours for party food has changed the perception from one health hazard to another. Most people nowadays associate it with sweetness and unhealthy meals, which simply flipped the risk in a different direction.
This is also why foods with blue hues (from purple to black), aren’t necessarily favourable either. While beetroot, eggplant, blueberries, mulberries and olives are widely consumed, there are many people who avoid them – and not based on flavour and texture alone. There’s a mental aversion to these colours which eases as the colours venture from purple into red territory
The same holds true for beans of a darker bluish-red or black tinge. While they are still consumed, they are far less popular worldwide than green or cream-coloured beans.
Green is healthy, and gross
As with blues and dark purples, you’re unlikely to see green colourant used in food, and we generally only associate it as healthy for specific foods like beans, peas and salad leaves.
In this instance, the aversion to the colour is also paired with the shape and form of food – which was confirmed by research conducted by Akdeniz and Temeloğlu. For instance – green apples, beans and peas don’t create much aversion since they are readily identifiable. But fruit of any other kind is associated with under-ripeness, which triggers a cautionary response. In heirloom tomatoes, the green cultivars are far less popular to grow and less abundant, since most people don’t know how to tell the difference between an unripe and green variety.
Green is furthermore associated with mould, rot and toxicity – which is why we are weary to eat green leaves which don’t resemble the typical appearance of familiar foods. The herbs and vegetables with distinct shapes and forms (such as rosemary, thyme and mint), are generally most favourable. Even with basil – which is highly popular in mediterranean cooking – we tend to view it more favourably when it is included in condiments, or visibly treated/shredded.
The oddity is that we tend to overlook a maelstrom of edible plants and leaves from our gardens, since we can’t tell the difference between different plants.
Red: the colour of allure and alert
Red inicates danger and alarm in most cultures, with some exceptions such as the far east where it’s considered the colour of joy, positivity and prosperity. There have been a few recorded incidents where western stockbrokers mistakenly made swift decisions based on Asian graphs using colour alone – not realising that red is the colour of gains, while green is the colour of losses.
In nature, red may be associated with danger – especially where some insects and reptiles are concerned – but it also represents ripeness and wholesomeness. Think of strawberries, a fresh cut of meat, tomatoes, apples or watermelon. But the psychology goes further than that. While we won’t dive too deep into the naughty nature of red – the reason why Valentine’s Day is adorned with redness is evolutionary. It comes down to fertility.
A study by Agthe et al. showed that men viewed women in red as more attractive than other women, and would even place their chairs closer to them during conversations. The opposite behaviours wasn’t necessarily observed in women – instead, women were more prone to wearing red clothing or when engaging with men they find attractive. It doesn’t end there, however, as men were also found to be more willing to spend more money on women in red. And this association has been found to be universal across all cultures.
Another reason why red is so ‘catchy’ is that is highly visible. While green is the easiest colour to detect with the human eye, red is its contrasting colour – which means we will spot red fairly easily in most environments, since it will stand out against the abundance of green surrounding it.
This is but one of the reasons why red looks so appetising in salads, as it stands out so perfectly against the green backdrop. But be careful not to use too much red in decor and in your setting. In lowlight conditions red appears far darker than other colours so it can make it hard for visually impaired people to navigate around.
Yellow: the contradictory colour
Yellow is a one of the most contradictory colours. Research has shown that yellow stimulates appetite – which is one of the reasons why it’s used so widely in fast food chains. And yet, it’s also the most taxing on our eyes. It reflects a high amount of light, which creates glare and causes eye strain.
Moreover, while there are a few people who have been found to have yellow cones in their eyes, the majority of people don’t have yellow cones – so the colour is actually ‘simulated’ in our brains by using both red and green cone receptors. So not only is yellow more taxing on our vision due to its luminosity and intensity, it also takes more effort to interpret.
With the highest wavelength after white light, yellow is used quite extensively in marketing and road signage to grab attention since it is so visible. Unfortunately, this also set the standard for yellow as a colour of ‘cheapness’, since it’s associated with discounts and warnings.
When it comes to food yellow is often associated with famine food: maize, pumpkins/squash, sunflowers, bananas, bread, even oranges are considered more abundant and easier to acquire than food of other hues. So you’re wondering about cheese? Well, cheese may be on the more expensive end of food in general, but the most abundant and commercial cheeses tend to be on the lighter/darker of colour.
Colour contrast, vibrance and luminance
Our eyes (and brains) struggle to make sense of visual information when the contrast/saturation is too low, or when it’s too high. When certain colours are placed together, they create a phenomenon called “colour vibration”. Since we try to discern between different colour values, our eyes struggle to discern between colours of different wavelengths, especially at high saturation and luminance. And there are certain colours we can’t actually see simultaneously, so it creates a visual effect which makes it appear as if the visuals are moving or ‘vibrating’.
This optical illusion is so intense, that it’s been known to trigger epileptic events in lieu of flashing lights since our brains themselves perceive these as moving colours. These colours can also trigger migraines and are known to irritate users.
Conversely, colours that are too muted, low saturation or muddled are incredibly hard to read visually for all users. The rule of thumb is to use WCAG rules for everything you do. While we’ve used some counterintuitive colours to demonstrate these effects, we advise against using these combinations.
Read our next blog for more info on multisensory dining
Creating a feast for the senses is both fascinating and can be tricky. So check in on our next blogs in this series for more on texture, taste, flavour, temperature, aroma, density and language.
Want to book a Dinner in the Dark Event?
If you’re interested in Dinner in the Dark, contact me on info@heinwagner.com to discuss your next event.
Research note: This article was researched and produced by Adelheid Manefeldt for exclusive use by the Hein Wagner site as summarised excerpts for a body of work around User Experience design, Accessibility for the Visually Impaired, Neurolinguistics, and Multimodal Communication. Copyright persists with the author and site owner and may not be altered, misrepresented, repurposed, or used without linking to the original source with apt citation. If you have any queries on this article and its content, kindly mail us on info@heinwagner.com
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