Taste shapes: Kiki and Bouba in the kitchen

Posted by drastic, April 30, 2008 at 1:35 PM

Last night, Food Network Canada showed an episode of the BBC's excellent "In Search of Perfection" where host Heston Blumenthal set out to create the ultimate chili con carne. In the show, Blumenthal decided that cornbread is a better accompaniment to chili than tortilla chips. Why? Because chili is a Kiki and so are tortilla chips, but cornbread is a Bouba.

Kiki and Bouba are the names of two shapes from a psychology experiment. You’d know just by looking at them which one is Kiki and which one is Bouba. In fact, that’s the point of the experiment.

I was reminded of that idea this morning when the coffee place downstairs featured a cinnamon pastry flavoured coffee. I thought I liked spices in coffee, so I was surprised when I didn't like this. I’ve mentioned on here before that I am the #1 proponent of fennel seed in coffee. The difference between the two? Fennel seed makes coffee a Bouba and cinnamon forces it further into Kikiland. Or at least that’s how I see it.

What foods do you think are Kikis and which are Boubas? Can any of you think of foods that could go either way based on small changes?

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