For this week’s Gastro Friday, I’d like to chat a bit about eating with preconceptions. Not too long ago, the American Association of Wine Economists published a paper entitled, “Can People Distinguish Pate from Dog Food?”. Like the title suggests, the researchers fed 18 participants 5 samples of pate (one of which was dog food)in a blind taste test and had them vote on which one they thought was the doggie delight. This is one of those topics that sounds incredibly interesting, but I am SO glad I wasn’t involved in it. Just the thought of dipping into some Alpo makes me want to power vomit like I would after a good party in college. And trust me–no one needs to see that. Only 3 people guessed the dog food correctly(which was Newman’s Own), but several people thought that Spam or liverwurst was the dog food. You can read more about the results here and here. One of the co-authors, Robin Goldstein, explained that the results demonstrated that “context plays a huge role in taste and value judgment.” That is to say, our perception of dog food is that it will taste bad and we would know instantly if we were eating it, but this study claims that is not true at all. It says our preconceptions of dog food are wrong. Someone could easily replace your country pate with Friskies and you’d be none the wiser! Haven’t you heard the story about a guest at a party that thinks the cat or dog’s dish is one of the appetizers, and they compliment the host on the interesting food? IT IS TRUE. And now I know what to serve to any unwelcome guests that show up at my future parties. Eat cat food, bitches. One of the favorite teachers from grad school taught me by example to never to accept an argument at face value, no matter how well-researched it seems. Always ask questions and try to seek out the answers, not to prove the researcher wrong, but rather, to come to a clearer understanding of how good the research is and what the results mean. I certainly had a few questions about methodology of this research. Like, is it skewing the results to tell the participants they will be eating dog food but won’t be told which one? How would the results differ if they had simply told the participants that they would be eating pate, and at the end, explain that one had been dog food, and see if they could pick it out? Because I know if someone told ME I would be eating dog food, every single thing put into my mouth would be tasted with suspicion and hesitation, not really a recipe for liking food. It seems to me like that like skew the results. I was also stoked when a listserv I am on sent a link to a fellow writer/blogger that also asked a few questions about this study, and conducted his own counter-study in response. The man is Geoff Nicholson at The Psycho Gourmet. Geoff felt that if people liked to eat pate in the first place, picking out the dog food would not be a problem. He concluded that the study did not take into consideration that the U.S. is not a country of pate eaters, and the same study done with 18 Frenchmen would turn out quite differently. I like this guy. He had the balls to re-do the study the way he wanted it done, which included 3 pates, 1 dog food and 2 cat foods. That’s right. The man ate Fancy Feast for the sake of gastronomic exploration. I wouldn’t touch the stuff if you wrapped it in bacon and sandwiched it between two deep dish Chicago pizzas. HELL no. Even Geoff noted that knowing you are about to consume cat or dog food is not an appetizing thought. He said, “We eat with our eyes, but also with our preconceptions.” Geoff correctly identified all lumps of pureed meat, noting that the real pates tasted like they were meant for humans. He also found that the worst pate was about as good as the best cat food, which suggests that there is some truth to the results of the AAWE study, but on a much smaller scale than original suggested. Then he tried to feed all 6 samples to his cat, who refused them. Ha! Not sure why the cat turned down nice pate, because my cat Nugget loves her some chicken liver pate something fierce, but interesting nonetheless. To an extent, I believe that in some instances in the right context, our preconceptions of how food tastes can be changed, like in the AAWE study. But I do feel that there was a cultural barrier that was not anticipated. It is hard for a food lover to remember what it was like to feel grossed out by the thought of eating pate, but it is a reality for a good portion of the U.S. It is not really an American pastime to eat the liver of various animals pureed with flavors. More pate for me! But that had to have affected the results of this study. Regardless, how interesting that such a paper was written! K, I’m done food geeking out. Have a great weekend! ~LTG!
