What's the first thing that you notice when passing your favorite restaurant? The smell of fresh pizza? Or the sight of your favorite desserts? Food that looks and smells good will probably taste good, but what about the sound?
Some scientists now believe that the taste of food can change when you hear different sounds, but it has to be the right sound. When you turn on a microwave (微波炉) with popcorn (爆米花) in it, it soon starts to pop. Do you think "that sounds tasty?" Not really, you probably think it's nearly ready. But when you smell it, you know it is delicious. Hearing the popcorn makes you think about it, but smelling it tells you that it tastes good. So what are the sounds to change the tastes of the things?
In an experiment in a fish restaurant, customers listened to the sound of the seaside while eating. Did it make any difference? Yes. Listening to the seaside seemed to improve the taste of the food - It was fresher and saltier. When the restaurant tried the same experiment with the sound of farm animals, there was no difference in taste. The results are useful for restaurants.
Scientists are also setting a connection between food and the sound that the packet makes. Pick up a packet of potato chips, what does it sound like? Experiments show that if the packet makes a right sound, customers will think the potato chips are fresher. So one manufacturer (生产商) has started to change the material that they used to make their potato chip packets.
