When designing a dish, a chef often takes into account several senses -- that's why flavors and ingredients are layered. The plates and place settings are usually seen as only utensils -- albeit, aesthetically pleasing and incredibly helpful utensils -- but tools nonetheless.
Yanko Design intends to change diners' conceptions through Sense tableware, a collection of table items that are meant to enhance a meal by engaging the senses.
Hot Stone Plates would cook the food via inlaid basalt
stones that had been heated in stock or oil. The Scent Flowers are
meant to provide a complementary scent that precedes the
serving of a dish. In appearance and function, they would seem closest
to scent diffusers. The Palate cleansers appear to offer mint vapors
through tiny glass bongs.
While these products might not
revolutionize the market, they do raise the issue of how much your
senses factor into your dining experience. Yanko argues that "we mainly
eat with our eyes." I'd suggest we mainly eat with our mouths, but the
point is well taken. One of the most interesting 7-Ups I've ever had
was at the snack shop in the middle of the Dialogue in the Dark
exhibit at Union Station: The sweetness was intense, and the lemon
flavor was sharper, similar to how food is tastier when you're
hungry.
If you want to ease into developing your senses, you
can start with a blind wine tasting to benefit the Downey Side Adoption
Agency at The Wine Bar tomorrow night.
[Image via Flickr: william.neuheisel]
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