Why does food taste better outdoors

Low air pressure and background noises further impact the way we taste, by repressing the ability to taste sweet and salty foods, according to Spence. When you bring your favorite beverage outside especially in a closed mug rather than an open cup your sense of smell may be overwhelmed by your new environment.

It might be flowers in bloom or a freshly-cut lawn or pollution or an ocean breeze or countless other things which may be affecting your perception of taste. As you know, there is less oxygen and lower atmospheric pressure at high altitudes. Wines age more quickly, but become richer, developing in both taste and intensity with stronger flavours and aromas.

As the plane gets higher, the air pressure drops while humidity levels plummet. Even the noise that jet engines produce can impact your tongue. Thus our bodies are stocking up for the nighttime fast.

Everything else we taste is actually smelled through our noses. No wonder food at a picnic tastes so great, when you have such wonderful natural fragrances around.

This means that when you eat outside, your body is benefitting from the fresh clean air. This links back to the idea that perhaps our desire to take our dinner outside in the warm weather is linked to nostalgic values.

If, as children, going outside is a rare occurrence often accompanied by food, there is a strong chance that we will learn to idealise the concept later in life as a sign of times gone by.

On the other hand, there could be something very important about access to fresh air and the ability to taste. Dry, poorly circulated air can cause nasal congestion, and a big part of tasting is the ability to smell. If eating outdoors reduces congestion, then perhaps we would be able to enjoy our food more with our improved sense of smell. Be it on a camping trip or on a picnic, we all have strong attachments to eating outdoors. The second it gets warm we flock to outdoor patios and plan picnics.

There is an undeniable connection between food and being outside that not only gives us time to appreciate nature, but makes food taste better in the process. But why does food taste better outdoors? There was a time when we were responsible for hunting our own food , whittling spearheads out of rock and chasing wild animals in nothing but our bare feet.

We foraged for edible plants. Later we industrialized the process, but were still responsible for running farms, waking before dawn to milk the cows and living in rhythm with the seasons as we tilled our own land. Nowadays, the large majority of us are almost completely detached from that process. Even boiling water, normally a task we do at home, sleepy-eyed and barely conscious, takes more thought than usual. We revert to something more fundamental, breathing fresh air and eating food that we put work into making, two activities that are basic, yet essential to our well-being.

Food tastes better outdoors because we simplify.