I don't know about you, but whenever I went out to eat at this ramen restaurant with a friend before, I always found it soothing to have some blues-y music or a chill playlist in the background while I chow on some spicy seafood noodles, and it actually helps me enjoy the food more, along with some casual conversation with my friend. Whenever it was some type of upbeat, pop music, I get fired up and focus more on eating the food.
There is something about the way music affects us and our behavior especially while we're eating. Ever wondered why high-end restaurants sometimes have classical or jazz music playing in the background? Apart from setting the atmosphere of the restaurant and giving off an elegant mood, it enhances our gastronomic experience.
Some research even suggests that the louder a restaurant's music plays, the more motivated patrons are to order unhealthy foods, likely due to the increased stimulation and stress brought about by the sounds.
There was also an experimental culinary experience conducted by the Italian Futurist movement in the 1930s, in which they would let their customers play musical instruments while eating their food. It sounds disconcerting, but the idea is that the combination of music and cuisine heightens the experience people have of both.
Whether or not customers find it pleasurable depends on who you're asking, but this is to say that there is precedent for the intermingling of auditory and gustatory senses.
In more recent times, the concept of "sonic seasoning" has floated about, suggesting that there may be a direct link between sound and taste. This link may be associated with synesthesia, or the perceptual phenomenon wherein our brains allow us to experience multiple unrelated senses, or said in another way, we're able to experience one sense through the lens of another.
Such is the field of sonic seasoning, in which the sounds that we hear can be described through taste. Some synesthetes say that listening to the piano is akin to eating caramel or chocolate, meanwhile, synthesizer sounds feel like eating black licorice.
The pasta company Barilla created "Pasta Playlists" on Spotify with which they recommend people eat their pasta, and in 2024, they commissioned the Al Bronzo Soundtrack Experience from White Lotus' composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer. For example, you may listen to the sounds of twinkling bells and vocal accents while taking a bite out of their rigatoni. Or, that rolling bassline as you savor their bucatini.
Whether it be a nice meal or a cup of coffee, I think most of us would not mind having some music playing in the background. Depending on the mood and context, it may impact our culinary experience in more ways than one.
Perhaps, the more intriguing part of this concept is the fact that you can hone in on particular sounds with which our brains would associate to further enhance the way we enjoy our food. But then again, who's to say that bells can make tomatoes taste sweeter, or rock music can make us crave for stuff like fries and burgers?
At the end of the day, some argue that music and food are highly subjective, so it would be difficult to concretize these connections and say that they produce the kind of effect they are purported to do. It's an interesting idea to explore, and see if there's any way to induce certain culinary experiences through music. But for now, we'll just have to wait and see.
(Image credit: Valentin Kremer/Unsplash)