「おいしさ」についての視覚的研究

抄録

The influence of visual effect on palatable appeal has been widely admitted. As the first attempt of scientific approach to examine this effect, the following experiments were conducted; (1) 16 femele college students were asked to "arrange the dish" on a white paper plate, using a set of wood blocks of various shapes, sizes, and colors as substitution for actual food items. The size of the plates and the contents of the block sets were the same for all 16 students. They were also asked to give a written description as well as a sketch of the dish they intended to serve. (2) Over 150 femele college students were shown the color prints of the above 16 plates and asked to i) describe what they guessed each of the 16 plates was, ii) rank them in order of "tasty apperance", and iii) choose the most and the least attractive plate, and give their reasons. Findings: Two factors were found common among the responses to the dishes which ranked high in "tasty appearance". They are; (1) the "dishes" giving exact image of real foods; the girls could easily recognize the intention of those who "arrenged" the "dishes", and (2) the dishes well-balanced in various aspects, such as the combination of colors, foods, as well as the proportion of the blocks to the size of the plate.