A taste of Kandinsky: assessing the influence of the artistic visual presentation of food on the dining experience

Abstract

Background: Researchers have demonstrated that a variety of visual factors, such as the colour and balance of the elements on a plate, can influence a diner's perception of, and response to, food. Here, we report on a study designed to assess whether placing the culinary elements of a dish in an art-inspired manner would modify the diner's expectations and hence their experience of food. The dish, a salad, was arranged in one of three different presentations: One simply plated (with all of the elements of the salad tossed together), another with the elements arranged to look like one of Kandinsky's paintings, and a third arrangement in which the elements were organized in a neat (but non-artistic) manner. The participants answered two questionnaires, one presented prior to and the other after eating the dish, to evaluate their expectations and actual sensory experience. Results: Prior to consumption, the art-inspired presentation resulted in the food being considered as more artistic, more complex, and more liked than either of the other presentations. The participants were also willing to pay more for the Kandinsky-inspired plating. Interestingly, after consumption, the results revealed higher tastiness ratings for the art-inspired presentation.

Cognitive structures based on culinary success factors in the development of new dishes by Japanese chefs at fine dining restaurants

“…Figure 1 shows the digraph of causal relations between 10 CSFs in dish creation by chefs of Japanese cuisine. The dimension of cuisine more Japanese in style (8) has higher values of influence, indicating that it carries the most influence of all CSFs for chefs of Japanese cuisine creating new dishes; in this study, it functions as an original source of creativity. Generally, any pair of CSFs for cuisine more Japanese in style (8), umami (3), flavor (2), and good balance (7) were mutually influential.…”

“…Other CSFs influenced texture (1). Flavor (2) was the most important CSF, and it was influenced more by cuisine more Japanese in style (8) than it was by other CSFs (Table 2). Relative to other CSFs, not too rich (6) was the least dependent on other CSFs.…”

“…We applied the laddering technique to printed discussions with chefs at fine dining restaurants regarding the creation of new dishes and identified a number of CSFs including texture (1), flavor (2),umami (3), main ingredient (4), good pairings (5), not too rich (6), good balance (7), cuisine more Japanese in style (8), elegance (9), and surprise (10). Thereafter, we asked Japanese chefs at fine dining restaurants to answer the DEMATEL questionnaire to reveal the relationships between the CSFs.…”

“…Chefs of both Japanese and French cuisine thought this CSF important, based on its high influential value. Chefs of Japanese cuisine believed that good balance (7) was one of the receiver groups and shared a mutually influential relationship with the cuisine more Japanese in style CSF (8). Chefs of French cuisine considered good balance (7) an influential factor, which was affected by the cuisine more French in style CSF (8).…”

“…Chossat and Gergaud posited that creativity consists of introducing fundamental changes to traditional ways of cooking and analyzed the related strategies that are highly ranked in famous French guidebooks [7]. Michel et al explored creative presentation by analyzing the visual presentation of food within Kandinsky's paintings [8]. Some reports analyzed the process of creating dishes at high-end restaurants, assessed through in-depth interviews or the analytic hierarchy process (AHP).…”