Meal Appeal

Overview

Objectives/Goals My project was a survey to see if red food in a meal would make the meal more visually appealing. I believe that the meals with red food in them will be more instantaneously eye appealing than meals without red food. I believe this because red triggers positive physiological changes in the body including acting as an appetite stimulant. Methods/Materials As of the date of the county science fair, I had surveyed 106 randomly selected males and females in the following age groups: 18-30 years, 31-50 years, and 50+ years. Using the following four parameters, I prepared four fruit salads (two with red food accents) and four vegetable salads (two with red food accents): (1) red as an accent color only; (2) the rule of "two and odd" which limits the number of colors on a dish to two or any odd number starting at three; (3) the rule of "light, dark and bright" where there should be light foods, dark foods, and bright foods displayed on a dish for maximum eye appeal; and (4) the colors of food stand out best on a white plate. After pictures were taken of these salads, I surveyed people by asking their opinions as to which fruit salad and which vegetable salad were the most appealing. Results I found that, of the people suveyed, 91% chose fruit salads with red food and 65% chose vegetable salads with red food. I also found that, while females favored the combination of red, yellow and green foods, males preferred the combination of red, orange and green foods. There were no significant preference differences among the age groups, they all preferred the salads with red food. Conclusions/Discussion My conclusion, which supports my hypothesis, is that meals with red food are more visually appealing than meals without red food.

Competition history

• CSEF 2002 Social Sciences (Junior Division Only) · Entry J1716

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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