The proper way to pair food and music
[This was my weekly column for GlobalNews.ca. – AC]
Before friends arrived for dinner last week, the household was in a tizzy. My wife was agonizing over the correct preparation of a lovely and hideously expensive bone-in rib roast while simultaneously researching an exotic form of butternut squash she was determined to serve as a side dish. What about the gluten-intolerant vegan who was coming? And what about the wine? A red, obviously. But should it be a Malbec or a cabernet sauvignon?
Meanwhile, my tizzy involved finding the correct music for the evening. I not only had to set the right mood for a cautiously-coming-out-of-COVID get-together also because the music would affect the way everything tasted. Any incorrect choices could potentially ruin my wife’s hard work in the kitchen. Just as she worked to pair the side dishes and the wine with the roast, I was pairing the evening’s music with the meal.
It’s been known for centuries that music can affect the way we eat, drink, and enjoy what we consume. This knowledge goes back centuries. Taverns and pubs developed drinking songs because once people got into it, they drank more, which was good for the bottom line. Today, music researchers have proven that people in a bar will stay longer, drink more, and spend more money if traditional drinking songs are played in the bar.
