Do you watch reality shows on TV, such as ‘Top Chef,’ ‘Iron Chef,’ or ‘Cupcake Wars?’ If so, you know that judging food is a very subjective process. Tom Colicchio will praise the sweetness of a tart, while Padma will proclaim the same nibble, ‘bland’ and ‘tasteless.’ So it goes with our recipe development process here at Choicelunch. I have talked before about how we create recipes, conduct taste tests, collect feedback and do field tests to make sure that our dishes are as good as they can be before they go on our Choicelunch menu. Alas, even when we do many, many taste tests, sometimes the results do not guarantee success. How can this be? As head of R and D, I am learning that taste tests themselves are psychological experiments.
Today we held a taste test for a new Asian chicken item. I didn’t make it to today’s sampling, but I was in the kitchen yesterday morning, when the Chefs were crafting the two dishes to be tasted today. The feedback from today’s tasting showed a clear preference for one of the two entrees. The lunch with the dot was highly praised, whereas the one without the dot was described as too spicy with no real ‘orange’ flavor (it was an orange chicken). What is particularly telling about today’s comments was that they were the exact same dishes, with the exact same ingredients. True, there was a very minor difference in the way they were cooked, but the fact remains: there was no difference between the two samples!
We will keep working on the recipes and hold taste tests with more kids, but the reality is, maybe both Tom and Padma are right. Perception is reality and taste is personal. TomATO TomAHHHto. PotATO PotAHHHto.
