Close X
Friday, November 1, 2024
ADVT 
Health

Want To Enjoy Main Course? Avoid Good Appetizer

IANS, 26 Jun, 2015 01:31 PM
    A good appetizer has the potential to significantly change how the main course is enjoyed, says a study by a food science professor.
     
    "If you have a fantastic appetizer and then the main seems lack luster, that could be because of this type of contrast effect. That does not mean you should not have fantastic appetizers!" said Jacob Lahne, assistant professor in the Center for Hospitality and Sport Management at Philadelphia's Drexel University.
     
    Lahne tested and analysed subjects' hedonic (liking) responses to a main dish of "pasta aglio e olio" (pasta with garlic and oil) after they had either a good or mediocre bruschetta appetizer.
     
    The good bruschetta was made with extra ingredients like balsamic vinegar and lemon zest as well as fresher and better quality ingredients compared to the blended olive oil and dried basil in the mediocre bruschetta.
     
    The good bruschetta was judged better than the mediocre bruschetta but the pasta dish was liked more when preceded by the mediocre appetizer.
     
    One possible reason for this result is that the very nature of the appetite-whetting first dish sways the consumer to compare it with the subsequent courses to the latter's potential detriment.
     
    There had been no research on how liking one dish might be influenced by other sequential foods in the meal until this study.
     
    With his co-author, Debra Zellner, PhD, a professor at Montclair State University, he published the results of the study "The Great is the Enemy of the Good: Hedonic Contrast in a Coursed Meal" in Food Quality and Preference.
     
    "I've always been interested in trying to understand the food choices people make, so doing research in Drexel's Academic Bistro as a unique study space seemed like a natural approach," Lahne said.
     
    The study appeared in Food Quality and Preference.

    MORE Health ARTICLES

    Tiny needles hold promise for two key eye diseases

    Tiny needles hold promise for two key eye diseases
    Needles too tiny to be seen with naked eyes can soon deliver drugs to specific areas relevant to two of the world's leading eye diseases - glaucoma and corneal....

    Tiny needles hold promise for two key eye diseases

    New Alzheimer's-related memory disorder found

    New Alzheimer's-related memory disorder found
    Alzheimer's disease now has a new cousin as an international team of researchers has determined criteria for a new neurological disorder called....

    New Alzheimer's-related memory disorder found

    Canada To Do Clinical Trial Of Ebola Vaccine, Far Away From Ebola Researchers

    Canada To Do Clinical Trial Of Ebola Vaccine, Far Away From Ebola Researchers
    TORONTO — A clinical trial of the made-in-Canada Ebola vaccine will be conducted in this country, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada announced Friday.

    Canada To Do Clinical Trial Of Ebola Vaccine, Far Away From Ebola Researchers

    Sloppy Contact Lens Use Is Driving More 1 Million Eye Infections Each Year

    Sloppy Contact Lens Use Is Driving More 1 Million Eye Infections Each Year
    NEW YORK — A new government report says sloppy care of contact lenses is a main reason for hundreds of thousands of eye infections each year.

    Sloppy Contact Lens Use Is Driving More 1 Million Eye Infections Each Year

    Phone use may lead to brain cancer

    Phone use may lead to brain cancer
    The longer someone talks over the phone - in terms of hours and years - the more likely is he/she to develop glioma, a deadly form of brain cancer, says a new study....

    Phone use may lead to brain cancer

    Artificial retina could help restore vision of elderly

    Artificial retina could help restore vision of elderly
    A team of researchers has created a wireless and light-sensitive, flexible film that could potentially substitute a damaged retina....

    Artificial retina could help restore vision of elderly