The size, shape, color, and weight of our eating utensils affect the way we perceive the taste of the food we eat with them, according to a study published in the journal Flavour. When a group of 35 people sampled and rated yogurt and cheese from different types of cutlery, researchers found that food seemed to taste denser, more expensive, and less sweet when eaten from a lighter plastic spoon rather than heavier plastic spoons. White yogurt also tastes sweeter and more expensive when eaten from a white spoon than a black spoon, and cheese tastes saltiest when eaten from a knife than from a fork, spoon, or toothpick. Here’s how it works: Before we even go in to take a bite, we have certain expectations about color and utensil weight. Foods seem higher in quality when eaten from metal spoons than plastic ones for obvious reasons, but at the same time, we don’t expect plastic to be heavy nor do we expect to have a better reaction to the food we eat when our plastic spoons and forks are as light as we think they should be. In addition, contrasting the color of the food and the utensil seems to send different signals to our brains. Desserts feel as though they taste sweeter and richer on white plates, while light-colored foods on darker tableware increases perceived saltiness and sometimes the overall unpleasantness of the food. Charles Spence, PhD, professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University, explains that varying silverware may eventually become an important factor in promoting healthy eating by helping people eat more—or less—of certain foods. “The idea would be that you could use the cutlery as sort of a seasoning almost – there’s no perfect right or wrong cutlery, although heavy is generally good,” Spence says. “It’s really more of a matter of slightly changing your perception of the food by changing the metal of the spoon or something else.”
