If You Make Food Round It Will Taste Sweeter

Rory Sutherland tells how medicine becomes more effective if you change their colors and why round form food tastes sweeter.

The colors and shapes of everyday objects, like medicine pills and food, have a profound impact on how our brains perceive their effectiveness and taste. This phenomenon plays a major role in the psychology of consumption, shaping our expectations and, in many cases, enhancing the experience.

For instance, the color of a pill can influence how we believe it will work. Painkillers that are red are often perceived as more powerful, giving us the impression they’ll act faster and more effectively. This happens because red is associated with energy and urgency, and our brains link it with strength. On the other hand, blue is known for its calming and relaxing properties, making blue-colored sleeping pills more effective in helping us sleep, as our brain naturally associates blue with peace and nighttime. This placebo effect works by tapping into the associations we've developed between color and certain emotional states. Other colors, like yellow, may be connected to mood enhancers, while green suggests nature and health.

Similarly, food is also subject to the same psychological effects. The shape of food can drastically change our perception of its taste. Rounder foods, like Chupa Chups lollipops, are perceived as sweeter simply because our brains link soft, circular shapes with sweetness and comfort. In contrast, foods with sharper or more angular shapes may be interpreted as sour or even bitter. Additionally, the color of food plays a crucial role in flavor perception—yellow and orange foods are generally perceived as sweeter, while green foods often suggest healthiness or bitterness.

Together, these subtle sensory cues shape how we experience what we eat or consume. Whether it’s a pill’s color that makes it seem more effective or the shape of a dessert that enhances its sweetness, our brains are wired to respond to these factors. This is why pharmaceutical companies and food manufacturers carefully consider the design of their products—because how something looks can have just as much of an effect as what it actually contains.

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[matrix]

Rory Sutherland, if people need to know

[adnaanu]

Makes sense, historically before artificial sweets, fruits were the sweetest foods, and most of the sweetest fruits were round.

[brandchannelbackup]

Those blue pills you showed when he said sleeping pills is actually Viagra

[MrSmith_]

The Cadbury's change from chunky squares to rounded ones was not for fun, it was a cost-cutting exercise to make more profit with the excuse that "it melts in the mouth better". The reason being is that each square took less chocolate required to fill the mould. The change also took place after Mondelez International took over in 2013. I would like to add that milk chocolate has always tasted sweet irrespective of the shape and did so for decades prior to the change.

[aerojamoo]

Triangle sandwiches are nicer than square

[MrJabez]

Suckers aren't round to change the taste, they are round so they don't shred the inside of your mouth

[llgla]

It's true. Round-shape chocolate tastes better compared to rectangle chocolates from the same brand. I always thought it's because round shape provides a even surface. 1) no edgy feel in your mouth. 2) round ones tend to be softer and thus melt easier.

[PincoPallino-zhwm]

I don't know, Norco or Vicodin are white and they surely are powerful, they don't need to be red. In fact, I have yet to see or try red painkillers :)

[loodlebop]

Uh. Actually, the shape affects surface area against taste buds, that's why grated cheese is 10 times nicer than biting into the block

[timstapleman]

This man has a profound understanding of chemical formulas used in the pharmaceutical industry as well as a broad knowledge of chocolate formulation and surrealist art.

[Markus.Vidal]

That’s why triangle cut sandwiches taste better than rectangle ones

[ChickenJoe]

I’m struggling to think of a painkiller that’s red

[gabrielemanzi]

This is the prove that the majority see the way of something appears and not what actually it is

[Kokuyouski]

But the taste changing by shape isn't placebo. Just ask sword fighters/smiths. Curvature means more contact, in case of sweet food it means more concentrated sweetness. Your tongue cannot curve around a chocolate block but it easily can around a ball of it.

[bigmingus]

It's round so it's comfortable in the mouth and the easiest shape to mold

[peciat]

That explains why different shapes of pasta tastes better then other even from same brand

[kylenmaple]

Everything he said is true unless you correct for repeated exposure. So yes, blue sleeping pills work better for the first few uses. Then, whichever sleeping pill is actually more effective, works better. The placebo effect from perceived difference is reduced as our perception is dulled from repeated exposure

[GIJane-nrxm]

6 pounds for a packet of gaviscon that works after you eat half a packet. Sodium Bicarb, 60p a tub, 1 teaspoon in half a pint and instant relief from heartburn.

[estreliasoriano]

True make lollipops rectangles or even Tri..