Appetite comes by watching
How does color affect our food choices?
In visual perception, on our emotions and behaviors, each color triggers a reaction and… our appetite!
Not only the palate and the nose interact with what we eat, but there is an overall involvement of all the five senses.
Before even tasting it, we already have a clear idea of the taste it will have;
sour, sweet or acid, as if sight and taste were associated to create a unique sensation, and this is what the food industry knows.
The color of the packaging and their various formats condition our perception of product quality.
Profound interaction between color and flavor that influences our mind
here some example:
White: is the color of pure and natural things; remind us simplicity and authenticity (such as milk and rice).
This is why many white foods stimulate immediate consumption.
Red: it is a color that stimulates the various senses.
Foods of this color are considered energy carriers, such as wine, meat, ripe fruit and vegetables.
In marketing, it seems that the color red attracts the attention of the consumer and stimulates him to purchase.
Could it be a coincidence that big manufacturers like Coca Cola or fast food
chains like McDonalds make abundant use of this color?
Green: symbolizes nature, life and spring.
Green foods convey peace by stimulating reflection.
Yellow / Orange: solar and energetic for yellow and balance for orange.
Pumpkin, corn, mandarins, melon, carrots, peppers, lemons, pineapple, apricots, peaches….
These are colors that encourage consumption and stimulate the appetite.
Brown: generally less appreciated except for the reference to chocolate, but it is used above all in food packaging with the meaning of “natural / eco-compatible food.
Blue and Purple: they are hardly present in nature and these colors soothe by deactivating adrenaline.
Perception and approach
These processes occur through distinct mechanisms.
The first is multisensory which activates all the senses and the second influences our expectations on taste.
It is true that colors make us feel good and have a huge influence on the mood of the human being.
Most of the time the choice of one food rather than another is linked to our mood and the color of the food is akin to the mood of the moment;
fruits and vegetables contain phytonutrient pigments (flavonoids, phenols, terpenes) which exert a natural visual-attractive function
on our food choices,
they produce beneficial effects on our body and perform important functions for the health of the body.
(source Marta Sclip) Appetite comes by watching
It is sad to say but the consumer no longer has any idea how to choose the products they most desires and the relative quality.
Some example:
Taste: in large self-service stores (GDO) you can look at it but not taste it.
Color: the new varieties are developed to have increasingly attractive colors that do not necessarily have a correlation with quality.
The color of the preservatives and additives is widely used to make the product visually attractive which often of course is not.
An example is strawberries and often over-the-counter meat and fish.
Aroma: Many fruits have no smell and taste.
Seasonality: Most consumers have no idea of the true seasonality of fruits and vegetables, while producers try to extend the seasons.
Advice: only a few specialized greengrocers are able to competently guide the purchase choice.
A further element of confusion is generated by the price, which is often completely disconnected from quality;
when a product is in full season it is often at its best quality and at its lowest price.
A consumer who is willing to pay a higher price, thinking of better quality; he cannot be certain that this is the right strategy.
A missing element in the cost chain is that the consumer is not required to know is the environmental cost;
which, if added to the current one, immediately makes the difference.
A concrete example is a seasonal product compared to one that is kept to be always available, we discover this thanks to the environmental cost.
Appetite comes by watching
