Why Food Tastes Better When You've Had A Little Booze

Anyone who drinks alcohol will swear that pasta doesn't taste the same when it's not accompanied with wine or that beer makes a burger that much more satisfying. It turns out, it's not all in your head: Science has proven that alcohol really does enhance food's flavor. A study published in Obesity, a research journal, set out to explore the relationship between alcohol consumption and the brain's response to food. On one occasion, researchers gave 35 women alcohol. On the other, they gave them a saline solution. They then compared the activity in their hypothalamus (a region of the brain that controls things like body temperature and hunger) when they were exposed to the smell of food. Afterwards, they offered participants lunch to measure whether they consumed more food after having the alcohol.

The results were unsurprising, but interesting: The majority of subjects were more sensitive to the smell of food, and also ate more after having the alcohol as opposed to the saline infusion. The reason for this is simple: Because smell is responsible for 75 to 95% of taste, when our brain reacts more strongly to smell, our food ends up tasting better. 

If you're still skeptical, another study that was published in Appetite, and focused on men, found very similar results. After studying 24 men who were assigned either a vodka and orange juice cocktail or a simple orange juice drink, researchers concluded that alcohol made subjects eat more and increased their craving for high-fat, savory foods. They also observed that people felt more rewarded when eating this type of food after drinking alcohol.

Now that you know alcohol definitely makes food taste better, you can use this knowledge to up your pairing game. Of course, it's important to remember that even moderate alcohol consumption has been found to cause negative health effects, so this isn't a call to drink every single time you're eating. But, special occasions call for great meals, and the right pairing can take any dish to a new level.

The best thing you can do is learn how and why pairings work. This includes researching how acidity and sweetness in wine (and other drinks) affects the taste of food, and how to choose a drink based on the heaviness of your meal. If you particularly like a specific dish, look up what drink works best with it and which ones can ruin it. (For instance, sushi lovers should never pair the dish with sake.) 

Sure, your brain will react to the alcohol and food will taste better no matter what, but that is no reason to put up with slapdash pairings. Instead, carefully mix and match flavors to create contrast and complexity without washing out one of the food or drink's elements. You don't have to become a mixologist or a sommelier; a Google search will give you enough information for you to know exactly what to go for the next time you're enjoying the heavenly combination of food and booze.