• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Skip to navigation
Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

  • Home
  • Podcasts
  • Events
  • Newsletter
  • Connect
    • Custom Events
    • Slack
    • RSS
    • Send us a Tip
  • Advertise
  • Consulting
  • About
The Spoon
  • Home
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Advertise
  • About

Does The Shape Of Your Spoon Impact Taste? Apparently, Yes.

by Ashley Daigneault
February 20, 2017February 20, 2017Filed under:
  • Around The Web
  • Foodtech
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

We write a lot about high-tech solutions to change the way food is cooked and consumed, but there is interesting, science-driven work being done to explore how design and form impact food taste as well. Fast Co Design writes about the work of designer Andreas Fabian – who has a PhD in spoons – and scientist Charles Michel to use design and scientific principals to enhance how cutlery can improve the perception of food’s taste.

Together they created the Goûte, a glass spoon modeled using biomimicry, the process of using design in nature to inspire manmade products. In the case of Michel and Fabian, their natural inspiration was the thing all humans use at one time or another to taste food – the finger.

The two began to think about the intimate experiences people can have with food when they’re unconcerned about proper manners—licking your finger while cooking, licking your plate when finished. What if they could create a new kind of utensil that mimicked that feeling, bringing a new level of mindfulness and joy to eating?

After developing the Goûte, the team paired up with Oxford University’s Crossmodal Research Laboratory to test the utensil’s impact on flavor perception. Participants used both spoons and the finger-inspired tool and found “participants reported perceiving the food as tasting significantly better than when eating with a conventional spoon.” People reported that the yogurt even tasted sweeter when using the Goûte as compared with the spoon.

The processing of using low-tech design principals to change the way food tastes is a fascinating undertaking. You can read more about the Goûte and the impact of design on taste here.


Related

Get the Spoon in your inbox

Just enter your email and we’ll take care of the rest:

Find us on some of these other platforms:

  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify
Tagged:
  • kitchen design
  • kitchen tech
  • low tech
  • spoon

Post navigation

Previous Post ChefSteps Working On Marketplace To Connect Cattle Ranchers With Consumers
Next Post A Bittersweet Ending And New Beginning For KitchenBowl’s Waliany

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Get The Spoon in Your Inbox

The Spoon Podcast Network!

Feed your mind! Subscribe to one of our podcasts!

Don’t Forget to Tip Your Robot: Survey Shows Diners Not Quite Ready for AI to Replace Humans
A Week in Rome: Conclaves, Coffee, and Reflections on the Ethics of AI in Our Food System
How ReShape is Using AI to Accelerate Biotech Research
How Eva Goulbourne Turned Her ‘Party Trick’ Into a Career Building Sustainable Food Systems
Combustion Acquires Recipe App Crouton

Footer

  • About
  • Sponsor the Spoon
  • The Spoon Events
  • Spoon Plus

© 2016–2025 The Spoon. All rights reserved.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.