Sensory Specific Desires. The Role of Sensory Taste Exposure in Desire for Food with a Similar or Different Taste Profile

The present study investigated how the sensory taste profile of a meal altered the subjective desire, wanting and liking of foods with a sweet, salty, sour, bitter, fatty, and spicy sensory profile, respectively. Participants (n = 85) ate a meal with a pronounced sensory taste profile: (1) sweet, (2) salty, or (3) sweet and salty combined. Self-reports of appetite, pleasantness, and sensory specific desires (SSD) were evaluated over the course of the meal using VAS-scales. SSDs were further studied through alterations in liking and desire for food samples with the main sensory profile being sweet (peach), salty (pretzel), sour (green apple), bitter (dark chocolate), fatty (whipped cream), and spicy (chilli nut), respectively. Consumption of food with a pronounced sensory taste profile was found to suppress the desire for food with a similar sensory taste profile, while the desire for different sensory profiles were enhanced or not affected. Further, when exposed to two pronounced tastes within the same meal, suppression of sensory desires was not only specific for the exposure tastes but tended to go beyond the sensory exposure. The findings suggest that taste variation within a meal holds the potential to create more satisfying meals, which can hinder additional desires after a meal and thus, lower additional calorie intake.

Introduction

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the relationship between food and climate change. It is bad enough that climate change is melting glaciers and causing the seas to rise, but to many people the potential loss of coffee is downright scary. If not coffee, consider tea, spices, chocolate, seafood, rice, wheat, or whipped cream. The entire menu, including the before-dinner drink, salad, main course, and dessert, is all changing. Despite the legitimate potential for doom and gloom when discussing food and climate change, this book is in part a celebration of the foods and beverages we enjoy. It is also a refresher on the history of some delightful cuisines, where they come from, and their contributions to cultures and the world's economy. The chapter offers an outline of the topics that are examined in the chapters that follow.