There is an opinion that during the flight on the plane, tomato juice acquires a more pronounced taste, so people drink it more often on board than in ordinary life. We decided to check if this is a scientific data.

About exceptional popularity tomato Commercial flights write numerous Media, passengers' love for it is discussed on sites about Travel And Tourism, A Also on Gastronomic resources. The flight attendants also talk about the demand for this drink among passengers. S7 S7 Stewardess Julia Mikheeva in an interview with The Village reportsthat “tomato juice is probably ordered 30 percent more often than other juices, and it ends faster. Therefore, it is loaded more aboard: sometimes for every ten packs of apple and orange, we take 15 tomato. ” However, the flight attendant notes, it is unlikely that love for tomato juice can be considered absolute: “In flights to the east, passengers prefer apple and orange juices. What is it connected with, I cannot explain. To Europe, to the West, in Russia - in tomato leaders. ” The popularity of tomato juice as an important part of the on -board menu confirmed scandal, flared up In 2018, the American airline United Airlines decided to remove the drink from the menu, and this caused the indignation of passengers. As a result, tomato juice in the menu I had to leave.

Until the 1920s, tomato juice was not popular-there was no technology of its industrial production and a wide market for sales. By words The historian of cooking and a food researcher at the University of the New School in New York Andrew Smith, the story of his appearance is as follows. Two brothers from the Indiana were transported a car for ice cream so that with the help of it to remove the tomato from the pulp of tomatoes with a thick and saturated with the taste of juice. The innovation was liked by Heinz and Campbell Soup, they launched the first industrial line for the production of a drink. At the end of the era of the Prokli Law, tomato juice became an integral ingredient in the popular Blood Mary cocktail. In the 1930s, Amelia Erhart, the American Aviation Pioneer and the first woman flying the Atlantic Ocean in the radio interview She said, that tomato juice is her favorite drink in flights, which, moreover, in these conditions replaces her food.

German airline Lufthansa in 2010 notedthat in the year her passengers drank 53,000 gallons (a little more than 200,000 liters) of tomato juice, only beer was a more popular drink on board - its year consumption amounted to 59,000 gallons (223,000 l). Such an observation prompted the airline to the idea of conducting a study to understand why tomato juice is so attractive to passengers. As experts, scientists from the Society for Assistance of Applied Research named after Fraunhofer, the largest European association of applied research institutions were attracted. The fuselage of a written-off Airbus a310-200 aircraft became The basis of the aircraft system: the scientists seized the windows similar to those that the passenger sees in flight, put the speakers that reproduce the noise of the aircraft, install special devices so that the chair was shaking, imitating the flight, and also created the same pressure, humidity and air temperature, which is characteristic of the flight in a passenger aircraft. Volunteers were invited to this salon, who offered various options for on -board food. Perception of sour taste "on top" Not changed, but the sweet and salty taste lost about 20% of their intensity. Dr. Andrea Burdak-Freytag compares the perception of tastes in the plane with the sensations that we experience during a cold. She explains: “With normal pressure, the taste of tomato juice is felt as earthen and musty, and at low pressure in the cabin, volunteers describe it as a more pleasant, fruit in their aroma with a pronounced sweet and refreshing taste.”

The data obtained in the experiment is well consistent with earlier research. In 1997, scientists from the Institute of Physiology and related sciences in Delhi Sent A group of volunteers for three weeks to live at a height of 3500 m. They were offered to drink solutions, to give this or that taste, the researchers added glucose to the liquid (responsible for the sweet taste), sodium chloride (salty), quinin sulfate or citric acid (sour). Being in the highlands, the participants in the experiment noted that the sweet and salty taste was perceived as less intense, that is, a higher concentration of the substance in the aqueous solution was needed so that the subject could determine which additive in it is present. At the same time, the perception of Gorky and sour among volunteers has not changed. After they returned to the height of the sea level, the perception of tastes returned to the usual one. Tomato juice in the experiment was not watered in the experiment, but it can be assumed that it would have changed its taste at an altitude.

In 2015, scientists from Cornell University (USA) became interested in a change in the perception of various tastes under the influence of external circumstances. Kimberly Yang and Robin Dando Studied The influence of the noise up to 85 dB - the volunteers tried different food, and at that time in the headphones worn on them sounded a noise of different volume. The perception of salty, acidic and bitter tastes did not change with loud noise, sweet tastes were felt as less intense, that is, a large concentration of sugar was required so that the experimental participant determined the product as sweet, and volunteers report that it seems 20% more pronounced to them. Um, otherwise called meat, is the fifth taste, described In 1909, the Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda. We feel it due to the foods contained in the food of glutamic acid and some ribonucleotides. Most expressed It is in meat, some types of fish and seafood, algae, spinach, cheeses, mushrooms and tomatoes. Thus, with a loud noise, tomato juice has a more pronounced and bright taste than if you drink it in silence.

Scientists also suggest that people prefer tomato juice in an airplane not only because of a change in physical conditions, but also due to psychology. Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology from Oxford University, also Interested The study of what people consume in the air and how they perceive “earthly” tastes there. He notes that the plane, in addition to pressure and noise, is influenced by psychological factors: in particular, stress associated with the flight, violation of circadian rhythms when crossing a large number of time zones, limited choice in the menu, and even the fact that passenger neighbors voiced their choice before us. Director of Passengers of Lufthansa passengers Ernst Derental shares such an observation, revealing The thought of a psychologist: “Many people are hard to make decisions. They understand that from minute to minute the stewardess he will ask them what drink they would like, and are lost. At this moment, they notice exactly tomato juice in a gentleman in the next row and choose it on the machine. ” Derental also adds that, according to him, to some passengers, it is the taste of tomato juice that helps to cope with nausea during the flight, while others choose it because it dulls a feeling of hunger. Columonist The Guardian Sam Wolfson suggeststhat not only physiology works, but also the rituals of some passengers-he compares the choice of exactly tomato juice in the plane with a tradition to eat popcorn in the cinema or hot dogs on the baseball match.

Thus, scientific studies show that with an increased noise level and at high altitude, that is, with reduced pressure, the perception of individual tastes really changes: sweet and salty are felt as less intense, minds - more, and sour and sour remain unchanged. At the same time, the researchers almost did not test the tomato juice, saturated with the taste of the minds, although, presumably, such a change in perception should have concerned him. Psychologists also note that the use of tomato juice in the plane for a number of passengers acquires the features of the ritual, so people can choose it more often not only because of subjective sensations of taste, but because it is so accepted.

Image on the cover: Public Domain Pictures