Close X
Monday, November 25, 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

    Smileys Make Children Eat More Healthy Food

    Smileys Make Children Eat More Healthy Food
    Labelling healthy foods with smiley faces and offering small prizes for buying nutritious items can make kids purchase more of such foods and eat them too, suggests a new research.

    Smileys Make Children Eat More Healthy Food

    App To Help Boozers Fight The Urge To Drink

    App To Help Boozers Fight The Urge To Drink
    A smartphone app has been designed to help people reduce their dependence on alcohol. The app diagnoses your drinking habits and measures how healthy, risky or dangerous they may be.

    App To Help Boozers Fight The Urge To Drink

    Humble Turmeric Can Help Treat Oral Cancers

    Humble Turmeric Can Help Treat Oral Cancers
    Turmeric, the familiar yellow spice common in Indian cooking, may also help treat oral cancers caused by a virus, says a study co-authored by an Indian-origin researcher.

    Humble Turmeric Can Help Treat Oral Cancers

    Cigar Smoking Not A Safe Alternative

    Cigar Smoking Not A Safe Alternative
    If you thought smoking cigars is less harmful than smoking cigarettes, you are wrong. New research associates many of the same fatal conditions as cigarette smoking.

    Cigar Smoking Not A Safe Alternative

    Why Do Dry Eye Cases Peak In April?

    Why Do Dry Eye Cases Peak In April?
    Dry eye -- the culprit behind red, watery, gritty-feeling eyes -- strikes most often in spring due to a surge in airborne allergens, a study says.

    Why Do Dry Eye Cases Peak In April?

    South-Asian Women In Canada At Risk Of Later Stages Of Breast Cancer

    South-Asian Women In Canada At Risk Of Later Stages Of Breast Cancer
    "Research has long suggested minority groups are among the least likely to be screened for breast cancer, impacting their survival rates and outcomes," said Ophira Ginsburg, scientist at Women's College Research Institute in Canada.

    South-Asian Women In Canada At Risk Of Later Stages Of Breast Cancer