Notes on Kandinsky and Aesthetic Plating
A Taste of Kandinsky: Assessing the Influence of the Artistic Visual Presentation of Food on the Dining Experience
Abstract
Visual factors like color and balance influence a diner's perception of food.
The study assessed how art-inspired food presentation affects expectations and experience.
A salad was presented in three ways:
Simply plated (tossed together).
Kandinsky-inspired arrangement.
Neat, non-artistic arrangement.
Participants completed questionnaires before and after eating to evaluate expectations and sensory experience.
Before eating, the art-inspired presentation was rated as:
More artistic.
More complex.
More liked.
Participants were willing to pay more.
After eating, the art-inspired presentation received higher tastiness ratings.
Aesthetically pleasing food presentation can enhance the dish experience.
Artistic visual influences can enhance the diner’s rating of flavour.
Visual display influences expectations and subsequent experience.
People eat with their eyes first
Keywords
Food, Art, Perception, Multisensory, Experience, Plating
Background
People perceive and appreciate food in a multisensory manner.
Information from different senses is integrated to create multisensory experiences.
Factors modulating the diner’s experience include:
Other people.
Atmosphere/environment.
Cutlery.
Plateware.
Visual cues like color and texture significantly influence perceived flavor and acceptance.
Techniques from painting and visual communication design can enhance food experiences.
Visual features drive food-related expectations and guide food choices.
People eat first with their eyes.
Complex visual arrangements are important, but scientific insights for culinary practitioners are lacking.
Previous research assessed the influence of balance and complexity on perceived attractiveness, willingness to try, and liking.
Complexity (addition of color) and balance affect perceived attractiveness.
Neat visual presentation positively influences willingness to pay and perceived quality.
The study assesses the influence of an abstract-art based dish design on people’s food expectations and subsequent experience.
Compared a simple presentation, a Kandinsky-inspired presentation, and a neat presentation.
Methods
Participants
Sixty participants (30 males, 30 females, mean age 27.7 years, SD = 7.2, ranging from 18 to 58 years) took part in the study.
Participants completed a consent form and a questionnaire to assess sensory dysfunctions, allergies, or food intolerances.
Participants were compensated with five British pounds for their time
The experiment was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford.
Apparatus and Materials
Stimuli consisted of the same ingredients presented in three visual arrangements.
Arrangements had same quantity/ingredients.
‘Regular’ presentation: ingredients mixed and placed in the middle of the plate.
‘Neat’ presentation: ingredients and sauces placed side-by-side without touching.
‘Art-inspired’ presentation: ingredients placed according to Wassily Kandinsky’s abstract painting ‘Painting number 201’.
Painting number 201 was described as a landscape of color free of descriptive devices.
Kandinsky’s theories on color and harmony could supposedly be applicable to any medium.
Vegetables and condiments were prepared identically for all.
Sauces were laid out for neat and art-inspired presentations but mixed in the regular presentation.
Served on a white rectangular cardboard plate (270 × 180 mm).
Food was a complex salad with 17 components made up of a total of 30 ingredients e.g., vegetables, sauces(purees and a reduction), and condiments.
Vegetables: seared Portobello slice, shimeji mushrooms (briefly boiled with a sweet vinegar marinade), cooked and raw broccoli sprouts, a variety of endive salad, raw red and yellow pepper cut into fine brunoises, one slice of raw red pepper, three slices of red pepper skin fine julienne, half a slice of raw yellow pepper, raw cauliflower sprouts, five slices of mange-tout fine julienne, and half a mange-tout.
Sauces: beet purée, carrot purée, cauliflower and lemongrass crème, mushroom essence with squid ink, and, finally, pepperoncino oil.
Condiments: Spanish olive oil, and Maldon sea salt.
Procedure
A between-participants experimental design was used.
The experiment setting replicated a typical restaurant table in a dark room isolated by a curtain.
The table had a fork, knife, paper napkin, and glass of water over a white tablecloth.
A small lamp was directed at the dish.
Conditions were randomized across testing times (10:00-17:00 hrs) and gender was balanced.
The experiment lasted approximately twenty minutes.
Participants were seated and told the procedure.
They were presented with a plate of salad and asked to eat it.
Completed a questionnaire concerning visual aspects before eating.
After the first questionnaire, they could eat as much salad as they liked and complete a second questionnaire.
The dish was plated in an adjacent room, and participants were unaware of different presentations.
No information was given about the aims or food preparation.
The dish was placed on the table with the first questionnaire.
Participants were left alone while eating and completing questionnaires.
All questions used 10-point Likert scales.
The first questionnaire assessed visual appeal and expectations.
The second questionnaire assessed the intensity of taste attributes (saltiness, bitterness, sourness, and sweetness), liking, tastiness and willingness to pay
Preliminary judgments were visually based, while later judgments reflected the eating experience.
Results
The effect of the three visual arrangements on participants’ responses to each of the questions in the two questionnaires (pre- and post-consumption) was analyzed using a mixed model (to fit the data), including participants as a random factor (in order to account for any between-participants variability).
Gender, age, 'foodie' status, enjoyment of vegetables, and interest in visual arts were controlled as fixed factors.
Willingness to pay, liking, and tastiness were assessed before and after consumption and analyzed by pooling together the data.
Post-hoc t-tests (Bonferroni corrected, alpha = .05/3, df = 19) assessed differences between presentation ratings.
Significant effects between presentation type were found for five items:
The art-inspired dish was considered more ‘complex’ and ‘artistic’.
The art-inspired dish was liked more than the other two presentations.
The expected tastiness was higher for the art-inspired dish.
Participants were willing to pay twice as much for the artistically presented dish.
Regular and neat presentations showed no significant differences.
Only tastiness was significantly affected by consumption.
An 18% increase in tastiness ratings for the art-inspired presentation (6.8 ± 1.8 before consumption, 8.3 ± 1.5 after consumption, this difference was statistically significant: , P < .01).
Ratings decreased slightly in the regular presentation (6.0 ± 1.8 before consumption, 5.6 ± 2.2 after consumption; , - not statistically significant).
No effect on tastiness for the neat presentation.
The aesthetic value of the art-inspired arrangement made the food more enjoyable.
The food might also have been tastier than expected.
The perceived tastes (saltiness, sweetness, bitterness, and sourness) did not differ significantly between conditions.
No significant differences in appetite levels were found between the three groups ('Art-inspired' group: , ; 'Regular' group: , ; 'Neat' group: , ).
Data from the three groups was normally distributed ( for the 'Art-inspired' group, for the 'Regular' group, and for the 'Neat' group).
Discussion
The study compared an art-inspired food presentation to regular/neat presentations.
Participants liked the artistic plating more before tasting and recognized it as more artistic/complex.
After eating, participants rated the art-inspired presentation as more flavorful.
Art-infused food design
Participants recognized an artistic pattern in the food intuitively.
Art involves communicating feelings and sensations.
The art-inspired presentation could have been an edible rendition of Kandinsky’s message.
Differences in ‘liking,’ ‘artistic value,’ and ‘complexity’ could be attributed to an aesthetic value transfer from the painting.
Art is that which viewers categorize as such.
Identifiable patterns led participants to define the dish as more artistic.
Identified patterns could have influenced liking judgments.
Display of art activates reward systems in the human brain.
Visually complex stimuli are more interesting.
Complex food preparations and presentations cultivate diners’ interest.
Art-Infusion phenomenon: consumers evaluate products more favorably when associated with art.
The art-inspired dish might have suggested higher value through visual display.
Participants were willing to pay more for artistic presentation.
The ‘effort’ involved in preparing a dish can change its perceived value.
Neatness and complexity might be elements people pay more for.
A taste of Kandinsky
Before sampling, no difference in expected tastiness was reported between conditions.
After consumption, the art-inspired presentation was rated as significantly tastier (up to 18% more).
Plating can have an important effect on flavor perception.
What we see can influence what we taste.
Enjoyment elicited by consuming an aesthetically pleasing product, whose creation requires a more skillful and effortful act.
Cultivating uniqueness in plating and presentation could be central to delivering pleasurable food experiences.
Art or novelty?
Higher ratings could be an effect of novelty.
Any salad that is not just mixed and placed on a plate would seem to be more ‘artistic’.
Elements of a salad placed in any form would not necessarily seem more ‘artistic’.
Plating might end up being considered as messy, and therefore less appealing.
Limitations of present research and directions for future research
Mixed culinary elements may have created new flavors.
The way in which the three dishes are arranged may, in fact, have led to their having different flavors.
Participants were not asked to eat all of the food.
Seeing the various components visually ‘integrated’, rather than separated, affected consumption behavior and probably how flavorful the food ended up being perceived.
Conducted in a laboratory setting, a most unusual place in which to eat, granted, and with most of the participants being students.
The experimental set-up attempted to replicate a restaurant table; however, the contextual variables of the laboratory setting may have influenced how much the participants were willing to pay.
The time of day at which the participants consumed the food.
The fact that our participants received monetary compensation for taking part in this study might also have influenced their experience, as it is unusual experience for most of us to be paid to eat.
Preparing/presenting the dish in different contexts (for example, science lab/gastronomy event/restaurant).
One question that still needs to be addressed is whether it is possible to spot different visual patterns in the dish, and if so, which ones may lead people to consider a dish as being artistic or not.
How knowing (before tasting) the story about the dish and its inspiration can impact the perception of the food.
A need to develop objective measures of the resulting complexity of food presentations, since the various aspects of a visual arrangement can affect the resulting complexity of an image, in terms of its various components and their interaction.
Conclusions
Expectations and consumption experience differ as a result of artistically arranging elements.
Diners attribute artistic value, find it more complex, and like artistic food arrangements.
People are ready to pay more when presented aesthetically, both before and after tasting.
Consuming the artistically arranged dish enhanced palatability.
The diner’s hedonic and sensory perception is influenced by expectations from visual cues.
Complexity and neatness are key aspects of aesthetic display.
Positive visual values are transferred to perceived flavor.
Using artistic inspiration in culinary design enhances enjoyment.
Visual appeal entices appetite and enhances flavors.
Studying food presentations under psychology and sensory science can give insights to the art of plating.
On the Importance of Balance to Aesthetic Plating
Abstract
Plating traditionally is based on intuition and refined until it 'feels right'.
Science is beginning to explain/disconfirm chefs' intuitions.
Research assesses preferences for visual food composition and its consumption impact.
Principles from visual arts can be applied to plating.
Experimental aesthetics suggests preference for balanced visuals.
Citizen science experiments demonstrated a preference for balanced over unbalanced food presentations.
Preference for balanced plating is considered against the trend of asymmetric plating.
Introduction
Plating decisions are traditionally based on chef intuition and rules of thumb.
One rule is using odd numbers of items (though refuted).
Composition depends on ingredients and chef style.
Styles are influenced by trends, similar to art – architecture-inspired arrangements, asymmetrical plating, balanced compositions, serving on unconventional materials.
Psychologists and sensory scientists assess plating preferences.
Chefs' intuitions are not always preferred; unbalanced plating isn't always favored.
Context is critical to aesthetics; asymmetrical plating can differ based on the restaurant, as balanced compositions are more visually appealing.
Experimental aesthetics shows preference for visual balance.
Central items are preferred, decreasing symmetrically with distance (Power of the Centre).
People prefer food presented in the center, linking to the preference for balanced compositions.
Participants rated balanced presentations as more visually attractive, but not 'tastier'.
Balanced presentation was liked more for its taste
Neatness, rather than balance, affected taste.
Neatness was liked more for its taste, suggesting it contributed to overall enjoyment.
It's uncertain how to interpret balanced versus unbalanced plating.
This was tested in citizen science experiments at London’s Science Museum, testing on the compositional aspect of plating.
Methods
Participants
7495 participants (65% female) contributed, mostly at the Science Museum gallery (88.2%).
Age range varied: under 16 (32.46%), 16-34 (46.00%), 35-54 (15.84%), 55-74 (4.98%), over 75 (0.72%).
Geographic origin: UK (56.06%), Europe (25.14%), North America (6.17%), Asia (5.29%), Oceania (3.92%), South America (2.08%), Africa (1.30%).
Most were right-handed (85.60%).
Participants were informed and consented; Ethics approval from Oxford University.
Apparatus and Materials
Original image: four seared scallops in a line on a white surface.
Zenithal angle and lighting used to avoid shadows.
Scallops isolated and edited onto a separate plate photo with matching angle/light.
Shading carefully removed, and the image was superimposed onto the plate photo.
Design and Procedure
Random assignment: 5 tasks from 7 different experiments.
Task/condition order randomized; participants might repeat tasks with different foods.
Images appeared side-by-side for 3 seconds, then the question: ‘Which plate of food do you like more?’ displayed.
Participants chose one plate to continue.
Stimuli side randomized.
Number of scallops constant (4); position varied.
Vertical comparisons: centered vs. offset (left/right).
Horizontal comparisons: centered vs. offset (top/bottom).
Results
McNemar tests assessed preference differences in four dish pairs.
The results revealed a strong preference for balanced over unbalanced plating.
Consistent with visual aesthetics studies and naturalistic dining research.
Discussion
Plating and the power of the centre
This research used the same food elements, controlling neatness.
In previous research, diners paid more for centered presentations.
A study in Scotland found no significant effect of balance.
Balance shapes our opinions; aesthetic appreciation has cognitive factors.
Unbalanced plating may be perceived as more creative, associated with traditional values.
Plating preferences depend on expectations and context, such as balance.
Neatness was also a factor, so perceived ‘care’ was rated higher in neat presentations.
Aesthetically neat and complex might be what people are prepared to pay more for as a sign of skill and effort.
Neatness could suggest quality, better taste, according to expectations consistent with findings.
Conclusions, limitations, and future research
Aesthetic response can be studied scientifically.
Aesthetic plating can determine whether people consider it beautiful or ugly.
Aesthetic science can be interdisciplinary.
Guidelines for optimal plating could emerge, affecting consumption positively.
The preference judgments, in this study were done visually.
People know that they wouldn't be able to eat or taste the food however, these ratings can be related to actual plates of food.
Investigate cross-cultural differences in visual arrangements.
Consider how expertise affects appreciation for plating.
Limitations include using squared plates; the frame may affect aesthetics.
Future research could explore round plates and visual aesthetics.
Online testing platforms allow chef to quickly test dishes and receive feedback.
Collecting data online/in citizen science experiments is easy; there’s growing interest in food aesthetics.
People prefer balanced over unbalanced presentations of ingredients.
How ‘unbalanced’ a dish is may determine visual preferences.
Principles from experimental aesthetics could become plating guidelines.
Trend towards asymmetric plating might not be optimal, separating from tradition.