The science behind why we love Pringles so much

Yet again science has swept us off our dining chairs, this time not about food preferences and genetics, but rather how sound affects our eating experience.

It turns out Pringles provide us with the perfect sensory experience when it comes to the crunch.

While it’s common knowledge amongst chefs that visual presentation plays a major role in the dining experience, and well known that smell is linked to taste, research now shows flavour is also linked to sound.

Professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University, Charles Spence, found some fascinating discoveries when researching how sounds affect the taste of potato chips.

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For the study, he brought people into a booth and had them wear headphones while crunching on Pringles into a microphone.

Controlling the frequency and volume of the crunch each participant heard through the headphones, Spence found that when listening to a louder and/or higher-pitched crunch, participants believed the chips were crisper and fresher.

In 2008, he won the Ig Nobel Prize for Nutrition for his work on proving how multisensory experiences can radically change your eating experience.

Chefs like Heston Blumenthal, owner of the three-star Michelin restaurant The Fat Duck, caught onto Spence’s work, and was eager to team up with him to create a dining journey like no other.

One of the boundary breaking dishes to come from the partnership, was the English chef’s seafood dish, Sound of the Sea. Served with an iPod in a conch shell, diners could listen to relaxing sounds of waves brushing up against the shore while tucking into the fresh seafood.

Blumenthal told the Daily Mail, "I did a series of tests with Charles Spence at Oxford University three years ago, which revealed that sound can really enhance the sense of taste.”

"We ate an oyster while listening to the sea and it tasted stronger and saltier than when we ate it while listening to barnyard noises, for example,” he said.

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Spence documented his findings and future speculations in The Perfect Meal: The Multisensory Science of Food and Dining.

He acknowledges that companies, like Pringles, could benefit from his sensory experiments by making their packaging rustle louder so consumers perceive the contents to be tastier.

Despite his grand findings, Spence believes eating mindfully is the best way to get the most out of your food’s flavour.

So the next time you munch in front of the telly, be mindful that you might not enjoy the food you’re eating as much as the show you’re watching, as the sound might overpower that crucial crisp and crunch.

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