Salty, sweet, sour, bitter, umami ... hearing?

July 27, 2015 7:51 PM

Sonic Seasoning

“Sound is the forgotten flavour sense,” says experimental psychologist Charles Spence. In this episode of Gastropod, we discover how manipulating sound can transform our experience of food and drink, making stale crisps taste fresh, adding the sensation of cream to black coffee, or boosting the savory, peaty notes in whiskey.

Field Recordings

Plants that can hear themselves being eaten. Microphone-equipped drones that eavesdrop on sick chickens. Lasers that detect an insect’s wing-beats from dozens of feet away.

In this James Bond-inspired episode of Gastropod, we listen to the soundtrack of farming, decode the meaning hidden in each squawk, moo, and buzz, and learn how we can use that information to improve our food in the future. Tune in now for this special broadcast of the barnyard orchestra!

posted by the man of twists and turns (9 comments total)

All I know is, whenever I hear one of those cans being opened in the kitchen, no matter how focused I am on licking myself at that exact second, I come skittering up the hallway and start rubbing against the leg of whoever's in there. Because that can means beans and beans means Heinz.
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:10 PM on July 27, 2015 [17 favorites]

Lasers in the jungle!
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 9:56 PM on July 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

Perhaps a field full of speakers blasting the sounds of crunching caterpillars might help terrified crops prime themselves to ward off a real attack, removing the need to apply chemical pesticides.

This is difficult. I want to avoid using pesticides but I don't want to terrify my beans.
posted by pracowity at 2:09 AM on July 28, 2015

I wonder if you could taste the difference between terrified and complacent beans.
posted by moonmilk at 5:19 AM on July 28, 2015 [4 favorites]

Lasers in the jungle!

We've got fun and games!
posted by Foosnark at 5:56 AM on July 28, 2015 [5 favorites]

This is difficult. I want to avoid using pesticides but I don't want to terrify my beans.

I wonder if you could taste the difference between terrified and complacent beans.

hi I'm from Metafilter and I could etc


Also this is super relevant to my interests, thank you! I remember reading about some investigations Blumenthal was doing into crunch; turns out that the sound of crunching triggers a physiological response that changes the amount of pressure your jaw uses, and prevents your teeth from slamming together.

My question: how does the sound of chewing affect people who are Deaf, and are there differences based on the actual mechanism by which they are Deaf? (Congenital, loss due to age or loud noise, etc). Do e.g. cochlear implants change perceptions?
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 7:39 AM on July 28, 2015

Lasers in the jungle!

Metafilter: Staccato signals of constant information
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 7:40 AM on July 28, 2015 [3 favorites]

Recently I was a bit mystified as to why the "rainy day" noise generator that I have running while working could effectively mask the smell of my stinky dog. Whenever he would bust into the studio after running around in the sultry Austin weather, he'd be pretty smelly. I'd throw my headphones back on and the rainy sounds would immediately mask his odor.

It makes a little bit of sense now, after reading about the link between sounds and flavors.
posted by Wetterschneider at 7:59 AM on July 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

Salty, sweet, sour, bitter, umami, hearing, fat.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:40 AM on July 28, 2015 [1 favorite]