Encouraging rituals can lead to ravesEncouraging rituals can lead to raves

My favorite local brunch spots all happen to serve coffee in French presses, a little touch I love. The steaming pot is dropped off at the table, we wait impatiently for a few minutes, and then press the plunger down and carefully pour a serving into each mug.

It’s not a terribly exotic process — French press coffee is easy to execute and I make it that way at home — but I love that little bit of ceremony at restaurants.

New research may offer a glimpse into why.  A recent study from the Association for Psychological Science revealed that participants who performed small rituals before eating perceived the same food as more delicious than those who didn’t perform the actions. Those extra little steps before digging in aren’t just meaningless motions, it seems. They may actually make our food taste better.

In a series of experiments led by a University of Minnesota researcher, groups that performed assigned rituals — say, knocking twice on the table or taking a deep breath or pausing before taking the next bite — reported enjoying the foods more.

The effects were evident for both chocolate and less tempting carrots. And, according to the study, the group that performed the rituals before eating a chocolate bar said they’d be willing to pay 25 cents more for it.

The results aren’t completely surprising. Rituals like singing "Happy Birthday," saying a prayer or preparing a beloved family recipe surround most of our best food memories. Many luxury items — think wine, oysters and lobster — all come with their own step-by-step instructions.

And then there are the arbitrary quirks of personality, like my completely functionless habit of tapping the top of a soda can before opening it. For others it’s the pageantry of shaking the sugar packet, dunking the cookie or eating corn on the cob in perfect typewriter rows.

Even though these habits can be personal quirks, there are many subtle ways restaurateurs can get all of their diners more engaged in their meals. Perhaps it’s elevated tea service, in which they can pour water over the leaves from their own tiny pot. Maybe it’s offering more deconstructed dishes — like fajitas, or cheese and charcuterie platters — so guests can assemble their own masterpieces.

At a recent meal at an upscale Mexican restaurant, the server brought a side of habañero salsa to mix into our guacamole. Instead of diving in right away, we gingerly mixed the extremely spicy sauce into our guacamole, tasting at intervals. Was it the habañero kick or the heightened excitement of concocting it ourselves that made it so delicious? Who knows? But we’ve been back three times since.

Sure, sometimes all you want is a ready-to-eat breakfast sandwich or a perfect unadulterated bite from an accomplished chef. But it’s clear that a little extra effort to get guests to interact with their food can elevate mere sustenance into a meal worth raving about.

And when that happens, the anticipatory ritual they’ll repeat again and again will be walking through your restaurant’s front door. 

Contact Christi Ravneberg at [email protected].