It’s not just you, everyone agrees that food tastes better outside… Yes even if it’s under an umbrella standing over the barbecue. But what makes an outdoor meal so much tastier?
Is it psychology, our imaginations or something a bit more scientific? Maybe it’s a bit of all three. One thing’s for sure: whether you’re lingering over a five-course picnic or simply enjoying a cold beer and a packet of crisps in the garden, everything tastes better when eaten outdoors. Here are a few reasons why.
1. It’s not that it tastes better, it’s that you smell it more. Up to 80% of what we think is taste is actually smell, and fresh air improves our sense of smell. So it stands to reason that food consumed in the fresh air will seem to have more flavour.
2. Just being in nature improves our wellbeing and that improves everything. Studies show that spending time in nature can reduce symptoms of stress and anxiety (apart from during a wasp attack on the strawberries, we suppose). When your body is calm, heart rate slows, muscles relax and the body is better able to get on with background tasks such as digestion. And we all know that food is more enjoyable when it’s not giving you a tummy ache.
3. It’s partly about atmosphere. Psychologists note that when we eat outdoors it’s often part of a celebration, or is shared with friends, perhaps a barbecue or a picnic. Being among friends or loved ones, and in celebratory mood, puts us in a positive frame of mind, more likely to enjoy the flavours of the food we eat, too.
4. And partly about association. Do fish and chips taste better on the beach because the saltwater smell enhances them? Does the smell of a barbecue bring out the flavour of your smoky sausage? Smells you associate with the food heighten your experience of them. But there’s also an association with times gone by, a sort of nostalgia. Perhaps you’re transported back to a childhood seaside holiday when at the coast with your chips, or the smell of freshly cut grass as you eat your ice cream in the park takes you back to a happy summer day with friends when you were younger. It all adds to your experience, making everything feel a bit more pleasurable.
5. You feel you’ve earned it. Whether you’ve built a fire on which to flip your homemade burgers, or just spent a short while packing up a picnic or a garden lunch, when you sit down to eat outside, it feels a bit more like you’ve ‘earned it’. The sense of achievement sends positive messages to your brain, letting it know you’ve done a good thing and deserve to enjoy it.
If you’re feeling inspired to do a bit more cooking and eating outdoors now, turn to our My Place feature in our June issue, in which we admire some beautiful outdoor kitchens, like the one above belonging to Cara Mills.
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