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Plane food explained

NEW earth-shattering scientific research has finally come up with an answer to something many of us may have pondered for some time - why is airplane food so bland?

According to the research, the level of background noise on a plane affects both the intensity of flavour and the perceived crunchiness of foods.

Blindfolded diners assessed the sweetness, saltiness, and crunchiness, as well as overall flavour, of foods as they were played white noise.

While louder noise reduced the reported sweetness or saltiness, it increased the measure of crunch.

The research is reported in the journal Food Quality and Preference.

“There’s a general opinion that aeroplane foods aren’t fantastic,” said Andy Woods, a researcher from Unilever’s laboratories and the University of Manchester.

“I’m sure airlines do their best - and given that, we wondered if there are other reasons why the food would not be so good. One thought was perhaps the background noise has some impact,” he told BBC News.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .