The pairing of food and music is a partnership for the ages. Classical composers like Mozart wrote music specifically intended to be what we would come to call “dinner music”. Entertainment and dining were synonymous with each other; Royalty and the uber wealthy would have in-house minstrels and orchestras, on call and tuned up and ready to crank out hits for whatever decadent feast was being prepared. Think about it…eating in complete silence just hits different, and not in the good way, like Sprite from the McDonalds fountain as opposed to the can. There have been very few instances where I’ve enjoyed a meal without accompaniment of some kind, from the dollar slice corner joint blasting EDM at 1am, to the authentic Mexican taqueria and their abuelita’s staticky AM/FM radio blaring mariachi music, to the ever-upscale Michaelin starred Alinea or Per Se playing delicate contemporary tunes. Music and food go together like peanut butter and jelly…so let’s make some sandwiches.
Let’s get some science out of the way and talk pitch. Pitch has been proven to affect the way we taste. A study published in the National Library of Medicine concluded that “listening to a lower-pitched soundscape can help to emphasize the bitter notes in a bittersweet toffee while listening to a soundscape with a higher pitch tends to bring out its sweetness”. The study published by Crisinel & Spence was mostly rooted in synesthesia, the phenomenon where your senses are intertwined. Translated from Greek, it means “perceive together”. People with synesthesia associate words or sounds with colors or numbers, even smells. For example, you may hear the name “Ryan” and visualize the color purple, or see a square and associate it with the smell of gardenia. In this particular study, “participants in the experiment reported here also chose the type of musical instrument most appropriate for each taste/flavor. The association of sweet and sour tastes to high-pitched notes was confirmed. By contrast, umami and bitter tastes were preferentially matched to low-pitched notes”. That could explain why certain music akin to Ariana Grade and Mariah Carey is played at ice cream shops. I remember working at a Cold Stone Creamery in high school, which was the only job I was ever required to “audition” for, singing a few lines of The Beatles “Hold Me Tight” to prove I could carry a tune for tips. Now every time I hear “Freedom” by Wham!, I can’t help but smell the sugar cones baking on the waffle iron. In fact, I think I got a cavity just thinking about it. The tempo of music can also affect the pace at which you eat. Every morning I line up my daily queue of podcasts to listen to while I eat my breakfast. One day, I noticed that I had quite literally vacuumed up my omelet and was feeling a little sick. Then I remembered that I listen to my podcasts at 1.5 speed (because she’s an efficient queen with a thirst for knowledge, baby) which could be the reason I ate my eggs like Joey Chestnut at the Coney Island hot dog eating contest on a regular shmegular Tuesday. So instead of listening to Dream Theater while having dinner, I generally opt for something a little less chaotic like the romantic cooing of Bruno Major.
Restaurants will usually choose their music based on this principle as well; It’s all about ambiance and atmosphere, and music is a huge part of a restaurant’s identity. In the 1920’s the jukebox gained popularity in restaurants and soda jerks, incentivising patrons to stay longer and spend more money to hear the music they handpicked, but their popularity didn’t come without contempt. In Jan Whittaker’s article on music in restaurants, “adults shunned these cafes, and neighbors complained about loudness. Fights broke out over musical selections. The jukebox took on associations of low life”. The classic image of that lovable degenerate The Fonz of Happy Days’ fame wasn’t too far off…these kids and their rock n’ roll music were corrupting America one establishment at a time, making way for the more controlled, family-friendly (and arguably more boring) Muzak. Now, Muzak is “The World’s #1 Music Provider”, boasting an excess of 500k corporate clients. There are also some restaurants that cater specifically to the taste of their staff, which tends to blend with that of their patrons. Peter Meehan of the New York Times said of Babbo, “regulars [at Babbo] are accustomed to having plates of black spaghetti with rock shrimp served with an audible side of whatever Mario Batali likes, as loud as he likes, whenever he likes”. Restaurateur Danny Meyer finds the music in restaurants to be a vital organ, saying, “Just like I wouldn’t outsource one of my restaurants’ wine lists, I would never outsource the music”.
Whether you’ve got an artfully curated playlist of dinner songs ready for your next gathering or you’re just going to let someone else play Aux Cord Lord, there’s no denying that music has a tremendous part to play in setting the vibe in relation to food. A wedding guest will always remember the food and the music; If one of those sucks, you’ve got yourself a pretty shitty wedding, despite the couple’s undying love for each other and the $8k they might have spent on flowers alone. A sad salad under fluorescent lights at your corporate desk can feel like a king’s feast with the right soundtrack. And speaking of soundtracks, whoever was in charge of music for season 2 of The Bear needs a serious raise, because when I heard Liz Phair “Supernova” during the finale, I said to myself, “damn I’d eat there if it was a real restaurant”. Now as you know (and hopefully have come to love), there will be a playlist to go along with this article. Every single song either has food names in the title or has something to do with eating. Get yourself something delicious, prepare those utensils, and press play. Hope you’re ready to chow down…bon appetit, friends. -NV
Nicole is Sr. Manager, New Release Content at Warner Music Group. She lives in Jersey City, NJ and loves Oreos, puppies, and the smell of laundry.
