Eat with your mouth open to make food taste better, study says

Table manners? Who needs ‘em

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A team of researchers from Oxford University have found that eating with your mouth open can make food taste better.

While it may be a bug bear for some people, or just simply bad manners, chewing food with your mouth open can help “volatile organic compounds” reach the back of the nose which can make food taste better, the new study said.

Volatile organic compounds are molecules that can create aromas and contribute to the flavour of food. So the benefit of them reaching the back of our nose means it can stimulate cells responsible for our smell, which can “enhance” the dining experience.

Charles Spence, who teaches experimental psychology and who has been working on the study, told The Times that we have “been doing it [eating] all wrong”.

“When it comes to sound, we like noisy foods – think crunchy and crispy. Both crisps and apples are rated as more pleasurable when the sound of the crunch is amplified,” he explained.

“To best hear the crunch of an apple, a potato crisp, a carrot stick, a cracker, crispbread or a handful of popcorn, we should always ditch our manners and chew with our mouths open.”

Spence is among a team of researchers who are trying to better understand how senses can impact that way we eat.

As well as chewing with your mouth open, Spence added that people should use their hands to eat their food where possible.

“Our sense of touch is also vital in our perception of food on the palate,” he explained. “The research shows that what you feel in the hand can change or bring out certain aspects of the tasting experience.

“Feeling the smooth, organic texture of the skin of an apple in our hand before biting into it whole is likely to contribute to a heightened appreciation of the juicy, sweet, crunch of that first bite.”

He added: “This can be extended to the feeling of grains of salt sticking to the fingers when eating French fries with our hands or the sugary residue of buttercream on a hand after picking up and biting into a slice of birthday cake.”