Beyond the Plate: How Bias Distorts Culinary Experience

Our bias shapes not only our perception of life but also at the table! Imagine expecting a dish to be light and airy like meringue, and then every nuance, every texture is filtered through your anticipations. Even experienced gourmets can be mistaken when their minds are filled with stereotypes of what an ideal culinary creation should be. One illustration of this is an incident where an author, while discussing culinary art, confused the traditional methods of preparing two entirely different dishes, leading to confusion in both the evaluation of techniques and the understanding of flavor characteristics. This example clearly shows: when our beliefs and previous experiences dictate what should be on our plate, the true essence of the dish may be drowned in a preconceived image. So next time you enjoy a meal, try to free yourself from habitual expectations and allow each flavor to tell its unadulterated story.

How can our expectations influence our perception of familiar dishes, for instance if gogol-mogol is mistaken for meringue?

Our expectations can almost literally tint our perception of food. If we assume beforehand that a dish possesses certain characteristics—say, we expect it to be as light and airy as meringue—our perception may become distorted. We might pay attention only to those details that align with our expectations while overlooking the dish’s true character. One source even mentions that an experienced individual might misjudge a culinary creation when holding an inaccurate idea of how it should be prepared:

"Great mistakes are made by Mr. Livanov not only in theology and pedagogy but also in the culinary arts, which are much easier to study – for example, when discussing funeral feasts, he says: 'after the meal, they put a huge bowl and make something like gogol-mogol or zhzhenka.' Mr. Livanov, it seems, is completely unaware that gogol-mogol and zhzhenka are prepared in entirely different ways and do not resemble one another at all; moreover, gogol-mogol is not drunk after the meal, but rather taken for a cough. Of course, this oversight is not crucial, but still: why write such nonsense? However, by the end of the essay, something utterly incomprehensible happens with the gentleman author: he abruptly cuts off Mr. Skalon, makes an awkward gesture towards the universities, and mixes up gogol-mogol with zhzhenka..." (source: link , page: 247).

This passage exemplifies how erroneous ideas about how a dish should be prepared can lead to confusion in its evaluation. If the expectations of "meringue" are imposed even on familiar foods by taste or appearance, then the entire spectrum of flavor and olfactory sensations may be consciously or subconsciously interpreted according to these expectations. Thus, a familiar dish may be misperceived if its true characteristics clash with the preconceived images formed by past experiences or stereotypes.