This Oxford University Professor Reckons Paolo Nutini Will Make Your Salmon Taste Better

Heston Blumenthal, purveyor of doing weird shit with food

Music provides the soundtrack to the most important moments of life, from falling in love to speeding around in your first Ford Ka with the sunroof partially open. But what's the best music to listen to during the most important activity in life? No, not sleep, the other thing. FOOD. Glorious, juicy food.

British Airways has launched a new “Sound Bites” menu for customers dining on long haul flights that attempts to answer that very question by taking plane food to the next level. Basically, they have started suggesting music that actively improves the food and drink they serve, ranging from Johnny Marr for a Full English, Debussy for a roast or Paolo Nutini for a Scottish salmon starter. Apparently, this ramshackle choice of munching music has been backed by hard science. For example, the piano notes of Lily Allen’s version of “Somewhere Only We Know” can supposedly enhance the sweet and bitter tastes of fish and chips.

This experiment comes courtesy of Oxford University professor Charles Spence, who is the brains behind "Sound Bites" and spends his time researching how specific music interacts with food. Now, he’s even working with Heston ‘I make regular things taste ridiculous’ Blumenthal on different sounds and recipes.

I chatted to Professor Spence about the project, how to make pringles taste better and which wine to pair with Goldie.

Noisey: Hi Charles. Where did the idea for the music and food research come from?

Charles: We were working with Unilever on the sonic chip, which was a project where we placed a microphone by someone's mouth as they bit into two packs of Pringles (180 of them in total). Each time they bit into the Pringles, we changed the sound to go with their crunch in real time. We either made that sound louder or quieter, or boosted just the sound frequencies of crunching sounds by 2000 Hz. All of that could change their perceived freshness and crunchiness of said Pringles by 15%.

How did Heston get involved in this sound and food concept?

Heston came to the lab and had an enhanced crunch experience. He wanted to capture the idea somehow in his restaurant, so we threw around some ideas. We showed that playing sounds of the sea made seafood taste significantly better rather than restaurant cutlery, clucking chickens, or modern jazz. Then a sound design agency Condiment Junkie made the soundtrack with just the right number of seagulls and waves crashing on a beach.

So when did actual music, rather than just sounds, come into the research?

I had a PhD student at Oxford University where I teach, called Anne Sylvie Crisinel, who loved music and singing and cooking. So she decided to put the topics together for her studies. We didn't know initially whether it would work and whether people would be interested if they did. To experiment, we gave people smells and tastes and food textures and had them match them on a virtual keyboard to different instruments and pitches of sound. People had fifty-two sounds to choose from.

How did British Airways become involved?

We hosted a number of events in which we pair wine with music, showing how you can bring out a certain note in a wine by playing the right music, based on Anne’s PhD research. At one of these events in Dalston we had a few people from BA there. I think they were convinced by our demonstrations, and wanted to incorporate it into their company.

So how would you describe the Sound Bites project and the involvement of popular music?

Over the last few years, the majority of exploration of sound and its impact on taste has taken place within the confines of exclusive high-end modernist restaurants. Hence, the Sound Bites project is a really nice way of taking the best of the insights and applying them in a way that many more people will be able to experience. The hope is that after reading about this project, and/or trying it in the air, many more people will start to think a little more carefully about the music they play while dining.

How were the songs chosen? Johnny Marr and Paolo Nutini seem like opposite ends of the musical menu.

Well, there is a mix. The selections are designed to bring out taste of food synaesthetically. Music with high-pitched, tinkling piano or wind chimes seem to be great for bringing out sweet tastes in food. Conversely, music with a low pitch and more brassy sounds works more for bringing out bitter heavier notes e.g. dark chocolate or coffee/smoky. Then a second level of matching comes from results of research showing that if you match the region of origin of food or drink to music that is identifiably from same region, then the food will taste more authentic. For example, with Paolo Nutini we matched the Scottish singer to complement the Scottish providence of the salmon dishes. Meanwhile, the low pitch of Louis Armstrong's voice was ideal for getting diners to focus on the more savoury notes in the dishes.

What is it about Louis’ dulcet tones that help them focus?

Well, we can't use sound or music to create tastes/flavours out of nowhere. If the diner, or drinker, is having a complex flavour experience, then by playing the music that corresponds with a specific taste will draws their attention to that element in a dish and they experience it more intensely than other elements. If the music really matches the taste or flavour very well then it can even prolong your experience of the flavour. That is something we are working on at the moment.

Which combination food and song are you most looking forward to?

Well, I’m not much of a dessert person myself, so it'll have to be one of the savoury courses, with Coldplay or Louis Armstrong soundtracking the meal.

What do you think the future of the project is?

We’re currently working on space food. There’s a question about what music would the astronauts want to listen to on their way to Mars. I also foresee a very rapid growth of sensory apps, and food labels that don't just say "this wine goes especially well with fish and cheese", but read "this wine goes especially well with a bit of Bizet, or some Goldie".

Thanks, Charles.

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