Taste is about so much more than what you eat: Your brain combines smell, temperature, and even expectations to decide how something tastes. Your utensils play a role too, with their weight, shape, and material affecting the eating experience in surprising ways. A 2013 study published in the scientific journal Flavour found that yogurt served on lighter plastic spoons was perceived as denser and more expensive than the same yogurt served on heavier plastic spoons. 

Other research found that spoons made of metal, such as silver, can make foods taste better than they do with plastic spoons. And in 2023, one study found that people enjoyed ramen more when using their own bowls and forks, largely made from ceramic and metal, respectively, rather than the uniform plastic utensils and bowls provided. The researchers suggest this is due to familiarity and comfort: Even before you take a bite, your brain takes cues from what you see and touch, forming expectations and helping shape flavor.

Taste buds last a lifetime.

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Many of the cells contained in taste buds regenerate constantly, renewing every 10 to 14 days on average.

The material of the utensils can also influence the flavor of the food itself. Metal utensils add their own twist:  Copper and zinc cutlery, for instance, is more chemically reactive, and the mild metallic taste can boost a food’s dominant flavor, with sweet substances tasting sweeter, bitter ones tasting more bitter, etc.

Utensils made of more chemically inert metals, such as gold and stainless steel, leave flavors largely unchanged. Even blindfolded, participants in the aforementioned study about plastic versus metal spoons could taste the differences, proving that the material itself, not just its look or perceived value, can shape how you experience the flavors of your food.

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Back in 1919, British airline Handley Page Transport made aviation and gastronomical history by serving the first in-flight meal. It wasn’t at all fancy — just a cold sandwich and fruit handed out by “cabin boys” on a flight from London to Paris. Over the next 100 years, however, aircraft meals underwent a variety of changes; in the years after World War II, multicourse suppers were served with tablecloths and real cutlery, a stark departure from today’s precooked and reheated trays or tiny bags of pretzels. In comparison, airline meals of the past look more appealing — and probably tasted better, too. But that may have less to do with food quality, and more to do with altitude. Turns out, cabin conditions required for today’s high-altitude flights affect our taste buds, making even overly sweetened or salted foods bland. 

Deserts are more humid than airplane cabins.

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If you’ve ever suffered dry nasal passages or itchy skin following a flight, it’s likely because the in-cabin air is incredibly dry. On average, passenger compartments maintain around 20% humidity; in comparison, the world’s largest desert, the Sahara, has around 25% humidity.

Our sense of taste is heavily impacted by scent, and as many frequent flyers know, air travel can wreak havoc on the mucus membranes inside our noses. Cabin pressure — usually set to the equivalent of about 6,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level — decreases oxygen levels in the blood, which actually dulls the body’s olfactory receptors. The lack of humidity in the air also dries out nasal passages, making taste buds essentially numb, and reducing your perception of saltiness or sweetness by 30%. To make matters worse, studies show that the constant hum of plane engines also reduces our ability to taste sweet and salty foods, though it may actually enhance umami flavors like soy sauce and tomato juice and seasonings like curry and lemongrass. Considering flights of decades past didn’t reach such high altitudes, its likely food tasted better on board, but the trade-off is speed: When Handley Page’s 1919 flight departed, it likely maxed out at 100 mph, a sixth of today’s average flight pace.

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The founders of one of the country’s leading ice cream brands spent only a pint-sized sum learning how to make their product. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield became friends in seventh grade, back in 1963. Originally, they set their sights on being a doctor (Greenfield) and an artist (Cohen). But once they reached their 20s — a rejected medical school applicant and a potter who dropped out of college — they decided to enter the food industry instead.

The duo came close to becoming bagel makers, but they realized that producing ice cream was cheaper (bagel-making equipment can be pretty pricey). Their dessert education arrived through a Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences correspondence course, which sent them a textbook in the mail and required only open-book tests. The course has since been replaced by a weeklong series of workshops, the Penn State Ice Cream Short Course, which bills itself as the country’s “oldest, best-known, and largest educational program dealing with the science and technology of ice cream.” Established in 1925, the program has attracted representatives from Baskin-Robbins, Haagen-Dazs, and Blue Bell Creamery who want to improve their knowledge of research and development, quality control, sales strategies, and more.

Ben & Jerry’s has never had an ice cream flavor that contains raisins.

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Produced from 1979 until 1991, Dastardly Mash was the lone Ben & Jerry's flavor to ever feature dried grapes. Aside from raisins, the flavor included chocolate ice cream, pecans, almonds, and chocolate chips.

To prepare to run Ben & Jerry’s, Cohen and Greenfield also purchased various brochures from the Small Business Administration, sold for 20 cents each at the post office. Next, they decided to open a shop in bucolic Burlington, Vermont, home to the University of Vermont’s campus (and thousands of hungry students). Their doors opened in 1978 in a former gas station with unsightly holes in the roof that Cohen attempted to patch up with tin sheets and tar. Cohen and Greenfield secured the location by combining a $4,000 bank loan with their pooled $8,000 (including $2,000 supplied by Cohen’s dad). All of the ice cream was made in a 5-gallon machine, and the shop originally sold eight flavors: Oreo Mint, French Vanilla, Chocolate Fudge, Wild Blueberry, Mocha Walnut, Maple Walnut, Honey Coffee, and Honey Orange. However, as the flavors got wilder — think Chunky Monkey, Cherry Garcia, and Phish Food — many more outposts and a wholesale delivery business followed, as did an IPO. In 2000, Unilever — the parent company of Breyers and Klondike — paid $326 million to acquire Ben & Jerry’s.   

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