Blurry Food

When I eat the food on my plate is out of focus pretty bad unless I wear my bifocals. Is it me but does my food taste better when it's sharp and in focus compared to eating without glasses?

Hi.

You also hear better when you have your glasses on.

Regards,

What?

I can't eat with the lights out. I just can't do it.

If you buy the argument that your other senses are heightened if you lose one or more senses, then shouldn't blurry food (or food eaten in the dark) actually taste better?

Actually, it is said that "seeing is tasting." We taste with our eyes before the food reaches our mouths. If it didn't matter what food looked like, why would all the great chefs spend so much time making it look good -- and why why advertisers work so hard at making it look good?

So yes, if the food is in focus, it will probably taste better. This is one of those cases where senses are complementary.

It's the same phenomenon as turning down the radio in order to find a good parking spot.

Pie Lady wrote:It's the same phenomenon as turning down the radio in order to find a good parking spot.

does that help? I'll have to give it a try.

gleam wrote:I can't eat with the lights out. I just can't do it.

Remember this phenomena? I had no idea it was so widespread (but, really, after they did a CSI episode about it, I should have guessed) I agree, even though as a kid I used to close my eyes and act blind, (my grandfather was blind, I always thought of him as kind of a superhero, because I couldn't move more than a foot or so without tripping) I never wanted to extend this idea to the dinner table.

After all, if seeing isn't part of the experience, what are all the pictures here for?

gleam wrote:I can't eat with the lights out. I just can't do it.

Everything's fat free that way. If a person eats in the darkness, did they gain a pound?

Mhays wrote:

gleam wrote:I can't eat with the lights out. I just can't do it.

Remember this phenomena? I had no idea it was so widespread (but, really, after they did a CSI episode about it, I should have guessed)...

I'd be the idiot stabbing herself in the eye with a fork.

Cathy2 wrote:You also hear better when you have your glasses on.

In face-to-face conversations, I really do hear better with my glasses on. Between my terrible eyesight and some hearing loss, I'm sure there's a certain amount of unconscious lip-reading happening when I have my glasses on.

Katie wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:You also hear better when you have your glasses on.

In face-to-face conversations, I really do hear better with my glasses on. Between my terrible eyesight and some hearing loss, I'm sure there's a certain amount of unconscious lip-reading happening when I have my glasses on.

McGurk Effect


More info/links here here: Hearing with your eyes
The first link to Patricia Kuhl's video is no longer working, but information on her speech research is here - scroll down for McGurk effect videos

To keep my post (semi)related to food, I'll note that my wife cannot understand what I'm saying when I speak with my mouth full.