I have a cousin who really doesn’t like when people slurp at the table. Soups, tea, water, anything. I’ve ended many a meal with her leaving the table, red faced and upset, because of the sound of my eating. It turns out that what I thought was a pet peeve of hers is, in fact, a veritable medical condition. People living with misophonia experience extreme feelings of annoyance and disturbance upon hearing eating sounds like smacking, gulping loudly, or gurgling.
Well, cousin Sophie and the misophonia community, I have some potentially unsettling news: a study coming out of England hints that slurping drinks and soups might actually improve their taste.
Drawing inspiration from ramen eaters as well as wine and coffee tasters, for whom slurping is encouraged, food scientists set out to discover if noisy consumption methods could actually affect tasting experience.
To get to the heart of their scientific inquiry, the research team conducted tests that saw participants testing three variables for optimum taste: sipping vs. slurping; mug vs. bowl; and temperatures A vs. temperature B. Each participant was asked to rate the intensity of the soup’s flavor, how much they enjoyed its taste, and to what extent they felt self conscious while slurping their meal.
The findings show that although the participants tended to feel more self conscious while slurping, it actually strengthened the flavor of the soup! The report notes that the difference in taste between the two consumption methods was “significant.” So noisy noodle eaters must actually be onto something.
I, for one, am going to start slurping as soon as I can. Catch me (or hear me) enjoying some of these slurpable meals.
Would you risk a few stares and slurp your soup in public? Let us know in the comments.
Written by: Valerio Farris
Popular on Food52
7 Comments
When served in bowls, the participants thought the soup tasted better slurping rather than sipping.
When served in a mug, the participants preferred sipping, particularly when the soup was very hot.
Given the typical American diner's upbringing and cultural norms, the real headline/finding here is "Americans should serve soup in mugs instead of bowls".
The Asians got it right centuries ago. They serve soups and soup-based dishes in bowls, as well as noodles dipped in a bowl of sauce and they have been slurping for generations.
Of course, 207 participants is not a statistically significant sample size.
Moreover, since we don't have access to the full article, we can only guess who the participants were, but my hunch is that it was from one country in Western Europe or very possibly the United States, thus, not a demographic that represents the world as a whole.
Were all ethnicities well represented? Unlikely. Were all age groups well balanced based on current population? Unlikely. Male-female ratio? Income levels? Education? Unlikely, unlikely, unlikely.
Everything about the 207 sample size makes this a flawed analysis.
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