Why Does Airline Food Taste So Bad? It Could Be Your Hearing…

 

I’ve only had airline food a couple of times. Of course, the food didn’t taste great, but I chalked that up to the fact that it was a 16 hour flight, and lets just say I have been in better moods.

But the general consensus is that airline food is gross. Even though it is mass-produced food, this is a little bit surprising because it is so universal. But a recent study published in the journal Food Quality and Preference, may shed some light on the subject.

The study involved 48 volunteers who tasted sweet and salty foods while listening to white background noise or complete silence.

The volunteers were then asked to rate how strongly flavoured the food was (the sweetness or saltiness), as well as the crunchiness and how much they liked the food overall.

The findings showed that ratings of saltiness and sweetness dropped dramatically while there was background noise. They also found that volunteers rated the crunchiness of the food higher when background noise was present.

This may suggest that airline food just tastes less flavourful when eating with the background noise of the engines. This could also drive the airline to over-season their food, which could also make it taste pretty bad.