More than a decade ago, an Oxford researcher named Dr. Charles Spence published a paper demonstrating how music could possibly affect our sense of taste. Specifically, how different elements of the sounds that make up music — like tempo, pitch and specific instrument voicings — influence our perception of the basic tastes of sweet, sour, bitter and umami.
I even participated in an experiment led by one of Dr. Spence’s grad students, in which Deb Paquette cooked a special dish at Etch, and panels of volunteers tasted the dish while listening to different types of music through noise-cancelling headphones to note how their perception of taste changed with the music. Unfortunately, I ended up being randomly assigned to the control group, so no music played in my ears, and I just had to listen to myself eat. Which I hate.
This is the basis of a new tourism campaign from the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, which they are calling “Tennessee Sound Bites.” The idea is that Tennessee is known for great music, and also for culinary excellence, and these two things should “perfectly pair” together. Beyond simply providing ambiance while dining, music and food can inspire each other.
To that end, TDTD put together a group of chefs and musicians from the three Grand Regions of Tennessee and invited them to collaborate on creating a dish and a song. The chefs cooked a dish for the musicians and described what inspired it. Then the musicians ate the plate and had 24 hours to write and record an original song based on what they had learned.
Ben Rector cuts "From the Ground Up"
The pairings were inspired. To represent West Tennessee, Memphis chef Felicia Willett of Felicia Suzanne’s teamed up with Three 6 Mafia co-founder DJ Paul, Southern Avenue, rapper Lil Wyte and legendary producer Boo Mitchell to create a bumping track titled “What We Doin’.” In Nashville, Philip Krajeck cooked a tomato pasta dish for local musician Ben Rector, which inspired the singer-songwriter to speed-write “From the Ground Up.” For East Tennessee, Dancing Bear’s Appalachian Bistro chef Jeff Carter made a sweet-tea-brined pork chop with lots of Appalachian flavors for country artists Lee Brice, David Tolliver and Billy Montana that inspired their new song, “My Appalachia.”
The multipronged campaign offers videos of the creations of the songs along with full performances of their efforts. It really does highlight the similarities of the culinary and musical creative process, and I feel like it goes further than Spence’s description of what he calls “sonic seasoning.”
Do high tones make something taste sweeter? Sure, maybe? Your mileage may vary.
But can the lyrics of a song or the genre of the composition take you somewhere in your mind that might make you experience a meal in a different way? I believe that wholeheartedly. Scrambled eggs at 2 a.m. at Mack’s Country Kitchen with Hank Williams Jr. playing on the jukebox hits quite differently in my memory than a perfect French omelet at Bouchon. Both were enjoyable, but the ambiance makes me remember them quite differently.
As part of the Tennessee Sound Bites microsite, TDTD has created a fun little widget where you can input what you’re eating, and the bite will create a playlist of songs written and/or composed in Tennessee as musical pairings for you. I typed in “cheeseburger and fries,” and the algorithm analyzed my meal. It spit out “salty” and “umami” as the two major flavors. When I hit play, I was immediately struck by the percussive wah-wah guitar scratch that is the beginning of the “Theme From Shaft.” I gotta say, that seems like a perfect pairing to me!
Head over to Tennessee Sound Bites, watch the creation videos and play around with the pairings. Make sure to investigate their restaurant recommendations as well. I think you’ll enjoy it!
