Light Appetite?
Despite the many wonderful effects light can bring, there are some who believe that the absence of light can equally be used as a strategy to enhance our experience.
For those who pay close attention to their local gastronomy scene (which, we assume, is everyone!) you may have noticed the recent trend of ‘dans le noir’– that is, ‘dining in the dark.’
The premise is that in removing light (and effectively our sight) from the environment, our other senses are heightened and as a result, we taste food more intensely when eating ‘dans le noir.’ But as Instagram will attest, the visual stimulation that seeing our food provides is a significant source of appeal, perhaps even enhancing its taste, not weakening it.
To find out what’s really behind this trend, Betina Piqueras-Fiszman and Charles Spence, both researchers at Oxford University’s Crossmodal Research Laboratory, investigated the psychological appeal of dining in the dark, publishing their conclusions in a 2012 article in The Psychologist. From identifying flavors that weren’t present, to eating an average of 20% more in the dark (according to a 2010 study the authors cite) the absence of light clearly has an effect on our experience of eating, but does it actually make anything taste better?
Read the article and judge for yourself: “Dining in the Dark”
This text was organized in the spirit of our “Summer Lights” programming, which includes
“FOCUS: Yves Klein | James Turrell”, “Neon in Daylight: François Morellet”,
“Depth Perception: James Turrell”, and “Johannes Girardoni: Sensing Singularity”