Imagine strolling along a sunlit beach on a scorching summer day, the waves gently kissing the shore. In your hand, a scoop of your favorite ice cream drips delightfully, offering a temporary escape from the heat. Now, fast-forward to a chilly winter evening, nestled by the fireplace with that same ice cream. Surprisingly, it doesn’t evoke the same emotions. Why is that? The answer lies in the intricate interplay between emotions, sensory experiences, and the environmental context.
Role of Emotions in Food Choice
Mood, expectations and emotions of every human being determine how they influence their individual food choice. Besides organoleptic characteristics and nutritional composition of food, food-evoked emotions play a key role in the acceptance of food products. In fact, several studies pointed out that emotions evoked by food drive the consumers’ liking of food products. Also, consumers make their food choices based on their preferences, which makes it relevant to study the emotions and sensory attributes associated with food products simultaneously, as an ally in the development of new products, to achieve consumer expectations.
In fact, several studies pointed out that emotions evoked by food drive the consumers’ liking of food products.
And what about the context?
Environmental temperature shapes the cognitive response, human behaviours, and emotional response. Furthermore, there is evidence that exposure to high temperatures negatively affects well-being causing stress, exhaustion, and aggression.
As an example, for an ice cream temperature can impact consumers’ sensory experience beyond just taste and texture.
The sensation of coldness on the tongue, the contrast between the cold treat and the surrounding air, and the feeling of cooling relief on a hot day all contribute to the overall pleasure of eating ice cream.
ICECARE PROJECT
As part of the ICECARE project, a study has been carried out in which the temperature in the sensory lab was manipulated, for three different conditions (16°C, 21°C and 26°C) in order to test its influence on consumers’ perception. Emotions felt throughout the evaluation of different ice cream samples (including ice creams with bioactive compounds) were registered, and different profiles were obtained.
At a higher temperature (26°C), emotions such as pleased, satisfied, or happy emerge, while for a lower temperature (21°C) negative emotions tend to be evoked mainly on ice-creams with plant-based formulations.
