Martedì 13 maggio, il Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, degli Alimenti, Risorse Naturali e Ingegneria ospiterà il prof. Charles Spence, docente presso l'Università di Oxford e responsabile del Crossmodal Research Laboratory' tra i massimi esperti mondiali nello studio dei processi neurocognitivi attraverso i quali il cervello umano analizza e integra le informazioni sensoriali – visive, olfattive, tattili, gustative e odorose – per dar luogo a complesse esperienze multisensoriali durante il consumo degli alimenti.
Il prof. Spence terrà una Lectio Magistralis sul tema "Gastrophysics: The new science of eating".
L'evento rientra tra le celebrazioni del XXV° anniversario Unifg.
Gastrophysics, the new science of eating, focuses attention on ‘the everything else’ apart from the food that nevertheless still influences the tasting experience, be it in a high-end restaurant or else in the home environment: Everything from the colour of the plate on which the food is served (and the ‘gastroporn’ thereon), through the weight of the cutlery that is used to consume it (assuming that there is any, which can’t always be guaranteed these days), not to mention the music that happens to be playing in the background (‘sonic seasoning’; Spence, 2017). Gastrophysics aims to bring the scientific approach, inspired by the latest insights from multisensory perception and crossmodal correspondences research concerning the roles of taste, smell, touch, sight and sound, together with the best in culinary artistry, in order to help design more engaging, more enjoyable, and more memorable experiences for diners in the future (Spence, 2024). I will describe a number of our recent attempts, using magic, visual illusions, and ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) to deliver extraordinary tasting experiences to drinkers and diners (e.g., Rottigni & Spence, 2024), that will hopefully nudge diners toward a more sustainable diet both for them as individuals as well as for the planet as a whole (Khandani, Veflen, Velasco, & Spence, submitted).
- Khandani, S., Veflen N., Velasco, C., & Spence, C. (submitted). Nature soundscapes promote green choice. Journal of Retailing.
- Rottigni, F., & Spence, C. (2024). Crying over food: An extraordinary response to a multisensory eating experience. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, 36:100943. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgfs.2024.100943.
- Spence, C. (2017). Gastrophysics: The new science of eating. London, UK: Penguin; Winner of the 2019 Le Grand Prix de la Culture Gastronomique from Académie Internationale de la Gastronomie.
- Spence, C. (2024). Delicious or interesting? On the changing aims of contemporary cuisine and its role in food adoption. In A. I. de Almeida Costa, M. J. P. Monteiro, & E. Lamy (Eds.), Consumer Acceptance and Sensory Evaluation of New Food Products: Principles and Applications (pp. 530-544). Cambridge, UK: Royal Society of Chemistry. https://doi.org/10.1039/BK9781839166655-00529.