In this study, we report a novel Internet-based testing methodology designed to assess the impact of different visual orientations of a commercially-successful dish (served in a Michelin-starred restaurant) on people’s preferences, and willingness-to-pay. The results suggest that if the
food has an explicit point or angle, the dish will be preferred if oriented pointing ‘away’ from the diner. What is more, people would appear to be willing to pay more for the optimally oriented dish. When asked to rotate the food image, the analysis of people’s responses using circular statistics suggested that it is the orientation of the single elements, rather than the orientation of the Gestalt formed by the food’s visual composition, that would ORIENTING FOOD ON THE PLATE contribute to establishing these preferences. Data collected at a citizen science experiment (N=1667) using the same food image and experimental design strongly support our hypothesis.
The visual shapes that are presented during a dining experience, and their orientation on a two-dimensional plane, could have an important role in modelling certain implicit associations that the diner would have concerning the food, potentially affecting the pleasure elicited by its consumption. While the visual preferences advanced here still have to be proven effective in a realistic dining setting, it seems that thinking about the optimal visual composition of food on a plate could enhance our everyday food experiences. Furthermore, it seems as if studying visual preferences