Sonic seasoning uses sound to set taste buds tingling

Record ID: 1632627

  • Title: Sonic seasoning uses sound to set taste buds tingling
  • Date: 17th August 2021
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (RECENT - JULY 22, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MENGTIAN ZHANG (pron. Mung-te-en Jang), RCA DESIGN STUDENT, SAYING: "Actually during the Covid isolation, I was watching ASMR (Autonomous sensory meridian response) videos, especially ASMR cooking videos, like, you can see people cooking and it will have comfortable sound. Through the mobile phone screen, I didn't actually eat the food but when I hear the sound of food I could actually imagine the texture and the flavour of the food."
  • Embargoed: 31st August 2021 10:15
  • Keywords: ASMR cooking videos during lockdown Design Products student Mengtian Zhang RCA 2021 Graduate Exhibition Royal College of Art Sonic-seasoning tableware enhance food flavour with sound as you eat
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK
  • City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Europe,Science
  • Reuters ID: LVA004EQO2MVV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Is your food not tasty enough or maybe not surprising enough? Never mind the salt, add a few bongs or wizzes.
    That's the idea behind Sonic-seasoning, a tableware collection that enhances the flavour of food with sound feedback as you eat.
    It's the brainchild of Mengtian Zhang, a Design Products student at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London, who was inspired by watching ASMR (Autonomous sensory meridian response) cooking videos, during the lockdown.
    "Through the mobile phone screen I didn't actually eat the food but when I hear the sound of food I could actually imagine the texture and the flavour of the food," Mengtian told Reuters.
    Produced for the RCA 2021 Graduate Exhibition, the collection explores enhancing food with experimental sounds and changing pitch, timbre and modulation.
    Mengtian said her friends have helped with her experiments.
    "I play the sound and ask them to add honey and one friend told me 'it really sounds very sweet and I don't want to add so much honey. And this opened another interesting area about the connection between flavour and sounds."
    Mengtian is now exploring if her design could help people who lost their sense of taste post-Covid or can help people make healthier choices, like using less sugar.
    (Production: Stuart McDill)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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