Melody on the menu: how a sprinkle of Mozart might give your meal zing

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/apr/05/music-enhance-enjoyment-wine-food

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Professor Charles Spence is trying to come up with a sound for salty.

“We are not quite there yet,” says the Oxford academic. “Bitter, sweet, sour – we have those. But salty is the hardest taste to embody in sound.”

Spence, a behavioural psychologist, spends his life finding out how music, colour and even the weight of cutlery used in a restaurant can be used to enhance the enjoyment of both wine and food. Pure taste is not nearly as dominant as we may think when judging a meal, he says. Play the right music to diners and the pleasure they derive from drinking and eating can be greatly enhanced.

Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal is among restaurateurs who have sought the professor’s advice, applying the lessons learned to the Michelin-spangled Fat Duck at Bray, Berkshire. It is just the beginning of a trend that could see music being adopted as an integral part of the menu.

Wine experts say that taste, smell and sight are the senses that count when judging the contents of a bottle, but Spence believes what you hear is important, too. Combine Tchaikovsky or Bryan Ferry with the right bottle and you will have a much better night out.

Musical pairing recognises that our senses play off each other in ways that we do not yet fully comprehend – that our ears unconsciously inform our taste buds. When sommeliers talk of high or low notes in wine, they may actually be on to something.

“Can we capture aromas or bouquet musically?” asks Spence. “Composers around the world are working on this. Are wine writers merely filling column inches with this use of the musical metaphor or are they picking up on some underlying truth? We think they are.”

Humans tend to match the same sounds to the same tastes. Sourness is high-pitched, while sweetness is associated with richer, more rounded sounds. Bitterness is expressed in deeper, more mordant tones. Salty, however, is tricky. Spence and his team think it’s something like a throbbing sound, but the version they use in tests doesn’t convince.

“We have found that people can experience 15% more pleasure if music matches the wine,” he said. “It is an exciting area: how soundscapes come together with taste to make the whole experience more enjoyable … It’s a kind of digital seasoning.”

Spence is speaking in Berlin as a guest of the champagne house Krug, which wants to use music to enhance the enjoyment of its luxurious and pricey product. To this end, it has created an app matching champagnes from particular years with music.

Ferry and the jazz pianist Jacky Terrasson are among those recruited by Krug to create the musical accompaniments. Apparently Terrasson’s brand of free-form jazz is ideal when downing Krug Grande Cuvée 2003.

Spence is confident of his findings and cites a study in which Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No 1 in D Major turned out to be a very good match for Château Margaux 2004. Mozart’s Flute Quartet in D Major, meanwhile, was found to be the ideal adornment for Pouilly-Fumé –with drinkers enjoying their wine more when “paired” music was played more than in periods of silence.

To demonstrate how musical tones influences taste, Spence stages a test in Berlin. People are given chocolate to eat and two pieces of classical music are played – one sombre, one lighter. Most of those tested reported that the chocolate eaten during the sombre music was more bitter, while that consumed during the lighter music tasted sweeter.

“Tinkling music – high-pitched piano – draws people’s attention to something in chocolate,” explains Spence. “Music cannot create tastes or flavours that are not there in your mouth, but it can draw attention to certain notes in a wine or food that are competing in your mind.”

Tinkling music – high-pitched piano – draws people’s attention to something in chocolate

But how would musical pairing work in a crowded restaurant where people are eating and drinking different things at the same time? The answer is a hyper-directional speaker, a “sound shower” that beams music vertically down on to the table and cannot be heard by people even a short distance away.

Colour can play just as important a role as sound in food and wine appreciation. Tests conducted on 3,000 people attending an event in London have demonstrated how ambient light can enhance flavour. Red wine drunk in red light is reported to be fruitier than in normal light, while green light can enhance sourness.

“We tested the four best wine experts in the Alicante region and fooled them all by colouring white wine red,” says Spence. “As experts, they are more likely to be fooled because the colour gives them expectations – of what they know about that colour. Likewise, chefs are more likely to be fooled than ordinary people by changing the sound of food because they use sound to judge freshness more than ordinary people do.”

Does this mean that quality in food and wine is a myth, that perception can be skewed easily by sound or colour or even packaging?

“People will always know when something is bad,” he says. “You can’t hide the fact that a fish has gone off. But you can make something good even better.”

Branding has an effect all of its own. Research at Oxford shows that when people encounter luxury items the pleasure centres in their brain light up. They are not pretending to enjoy an elite product – they are truly aroused by it. Snobbery is not merely social but physical. Labelling works.

Eric Lebel is the man Krug relies on to ensure quality. Each year he drives around the Champagne region of France selecting grapes for his employer, tasting them on the hillsides. Krug does not aim for the occasional great vintage, preferring consistency, year in year out, irrespective of weather. Lebel and his team are charged with ensuring that consistency, and their decisions can make or break the reputation of a great house.

What does he think affects taste? “The moon can,” he offers, nonchalantly. “We find that when our team has a strange result in tasting, it corresponds to a moment in the lunar calendar.”

I should have known batter: the perfect accompaniments

Fish and chips

Shanghai restaurant Ultraviolet serves its version against a backdrop of Beatles music as a union flag is projected on to the surface of the table.

With a pismo clam cocktail, the fast tempo and high pitch of Maroon 5’s One More Night brings out the bright citrus flavours.

Scented meringue

El Celler de Can Roca, the fabled three Michelin stars restaurant in Girona, Spain, serves its version of the dessert together with a commentary of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi weaving past Real Madrid players (known as ‘Meringues’) to score a goal. Brings out the bright citrus flavours.

Dark chocolate mousse, or coffee with a little sugar

Nessun Dorma, performed by Luciano Pavarotti, brings out the intensity/bitterness in the coffee.

Pumpkin crème brûlée

Autumn in New York sung by Billie Holiday, with its high-pitched piano notes and Holiday’s lower-pitched, plaintive voice, emphasises the autumn flavour of cinnamon and pumpkin in the dish.

And with your wine, try …

Château Margaux 2004: Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No 1 in D Major.

Pouilly-Fumé: Mozart’s Flute Quartet in D Major, K285.

Cabernet Sauvignon: 60% more robust when consumed to the sound of Orff’s Carmina Burana.

Chardonnay: 40% more zingy and refreshing when accompanied by Just Can’t Get Enough by Nouvelle Vague.

Dessert wine: Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells.