At mealtimes, we often grab the first plate we see without paying much attention to its appearance. This is especially true when living in furnished accommodation and having to make do with mismatched dishes provided by the landlord. Yet, the color of the plate influences our appetite and our feeling of fullness.<\/p>\n
When we enjoy a meal<\/a> , our taste buds delight, but all five senses are engaged. There's a reason the expression "to bite off more than you can chew"<\/em> exists. Naturally, a beautifully presented lasagna is more appetizing than a plate of flageolet beans, crudely strewn about by the cafeteria cook. However, visual appeal isn't the only factor. The color of the plate itself is also important.<\/p>\n Dishes, depending on their shape and color, can either increase or decrease our appetite. It's purely psychological. Yet, it's a factor we often take lightly. Generally, we choose a plate at random from the cupboard, without really paying attention to its appearance. We sometimes make exceptions when we have guests and bring out our bluestone set or our Scandinavian-style dinnerware. However, we underestimate the effects on our eating habits.<\/p>\n However, a meal served on a flat green ceramic plate won't taste the same if it's placed in a terracotta bowl. In one bowl, crumbs will be left, while in the other, people will ask for seconds. Several studies<\/a> have examined this phenomenon and noted a clear difference in eating behavior depending on the type of plate.<\/p>\n In traditional restaurants, food is presented in the center of a white plate precisely to avoid overwhelming the eye and to emphasize the color of the ingredients. In this neutral hue, the plate remains a simple serving piece. However, at home, plates are rarely pristine white, especially if they're a gift from Grandma or a flea market find.<\/p>\n However, some colors can literally make our mouths water and cause us to eat more than our stomachs need. Researchers<\/a> tested this on about fifty participants aged 18 to 30. The result: the average total energy intake was significantly higher with red plates than with white plates. This is rather paradoxical since red usually evokes prohibition or danger.<\/p>\n In coffee shops and other bistro-style or contemporary establishments, the plates accompanying our meals are generally dressed in cool tones. The same chromatic credo applies to the shelves of home decor stores. Beyond earthenware plates, which evoke the illusion of a souvenir from Italy, turquoise and midnight blue plates are ubiquitous. This is hardly surprising, as they are naturally calming.<\/p>\n Unlike warm tones, the colors opposite them on the palette have less of an impact on appetite. The same mechanism applies to the color of food. We are instinctively more drawn to fries or melted cheddar cheese than to spinach or broccoli. And if most fast-food<\/a> chains opt for colors that tend toward red, it's because there's a reason behind it.<\/p>\n According to another complementary study<\/a> , published in the journal Food Quality and Preference, the color of our plate also influences our palate. Two groups of participants took part in the test: one very open to new flavors and the other rather selective in their diet. The goal? To dispel suspicions of food neophobia, or the aversion to new foods.<\/p>\n The children, divided into two groups, tasted salt and vinegar crisps served in three different colored bowls: red, white, and blue. The quantity was exactly the same each time. After each tasting, they had to say whether the crisps seemed more or less salty, how intense the flavor was, and whether they found the snack<\/a> appetizing. Between each bowl, they took a short break to rinse their mouths with water, allowing them to start again with neutral sensations.<\/p>\n A surprising result: the color of the bowl influenced the perception of the "pickiest" children. They found the chips saltier in the red and blue bowls than in the white bowl. For the "less fussy" children, however, the color had no effect on their taste perception.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the idea isn't to swap your red dishes for all-blue plates to ration your portions or comply with diet pressures. These fascinating studies primarily demonstrate that the color of our plates isn't so insignificant. This should encourage us to practice mindful eating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At mealtimes, we often grab the first plate we see without paying much attention to its appearance. This...","protected":false},"author":8340,"featured_media":434552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_msn":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-434540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition"],"image":{"medium":["https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/couleur-assiette-influence-appetit-200x113.jpg",200,113,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/couleur-assiette-influence-appetit-500x281.jpg",500,281,true]},"custom":{"td_video":"","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/couleur-assiette-influence-appetit.jpg","author":{"name":"\u00c9milie Laurent","avatar":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-2f5d8c00d5d5c27f8ce4d9b3f9015467-96x96.png"},"categories":[{"term_id":6145,"name":"Nutrition","slug":"nutrition","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":6317,"taxonomy":"category","description":" The Nutrition section of The Body Optimist helps you make sense of food without diets or guilt: foods and trends decoded, hunger and fullness, your relationship with food and balanced eating day to day. Our articles are for all women, whatever their body type, with an approach built on the pleasure of eating<\/strong> and listening to yourself rather than on restriction.<\/p>\n Balanced eating means varying what you eat over several days, not following strict rules at every meal. A satisfying meal usually combines vegetables or fruit, a starch (bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, legumes), a source of protein and a little fat. Eating at fairly regular times keeps you from arriving ravenous at the next meal. Sit down to eat, ideally away from screens, and take time to enjoy your food: fullness signals take a while to kick in. No food is off-limits: chocolate, fries and pastries all have a place in a varied diet. For general benchmarks, the health authorities in your country publish official dietary guidelines that don\u2019t require following any diet.<\/p>\n Our editorial team rejects diet culture: no weight-loss diets, no calorie counting, no \u201cforbidden\u201d foods and no promises of physical transformation. We believe health can\u2019t be read on a scale and that every body has its own needs. When we share a study or an expert\u2019s view, it\u2019s to inform your choices, not to tell you what to eat. Our articles provide general information and don\u2019t replace advice from a health professional: for any personal question, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian.<\/p>\n Intuitive eating is an approach developed by American dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. It encourages you to reject the diet mentality, listen to your hunger and fullness cues and make peace with all foods. Its goal isn\u2019t weight loss but a calmer, more flexible relationship with food.<\/p>\n No food needs to be banned from a varied diet unless you have an allergy, an intolerance or a medical reason to avoid it. Very sugary, very fatty or highly processed foods can be enjoyed without guilt, just less often than everyday staples. Labeling foods as \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d can actually fuel frustration and bingeing.<\/p>\n Several signs should raise a flag: thinking about food constantly, feeling guilty after meals, cycling between restriction and binges, making yourself throw up or avoiding eating in front of others. Eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder, can affect people of any weight. Talk to your doctor, who can refer you to appropriate care, or reach out to an eating disorder support organization in your country.<\/p>\n Keep exploring: put it into practice with our easy, delicious recipes<\/a>, find all our content in the Food<\/a> section and take care of yourself every day with the Well-being<\/a> section.<\/p>","parent":6143,"count":230,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":6145,"category_count":230,"category_description":" The Nutrition section of The Body Optimist helps you make sense of food without diets or guilt: foods and trends decoded, hunger and fullness, your relationship with food and balanced eating day to day. Our articles are for all women, whatever their body type, with an approach built on the pleasure of eating<\/strong> and listening to yourself rather than on restriction.<\/p>\n Balanced eating means varying what you eat over several days, not following strict rules at every meal. A satisfying meal usually combines vegetables or fruit, a starch (bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, legumes), a source of protein and a little fat. Eating at fairly regular times keeps you from arriving ravenous at the next meal. Sit down to eat, ideally away from screens, and take time to enjoy your food: fullness signals take a while to kick in. No food is off-limits: chocolate, fries and pastries all have a place in a varied diet. For general benchmarks, the health authorities in your country publish official dietary guidelines that don\u2019t require following any diet.<\/p>\n Our editorial team rejects diet culture: no weight-loss diets, no calorie counting, no \u201cforbidden\u201d foods and no promises of physical transformation. We believe health can\u2019t be read on a scale and that every body has its own needs. When we share a study or an expert\u2019s view, it\u2019s to inform your choices, not to tell you what to eat. Our articles provide general information and don\u2019t replace advice from a health professional: for any personal question, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian.<\/p>\n Intuitive eating is an approach developed by American dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. It encourages you to reject the diet mentality, listen to your hunger and fullness cues and make peace with all foods. Its goal isn\u2019t weight loss but a calmer, more flexible relationship with food.<\/p>\n No food needs to be banned from a varied diet unless you have an allergy, an intolerance or a medical reason to avoid it. Very sugary, very fatty or highly processed foods can be enjoyed without guilt, just less often than everyday staples. Labeling foods as \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d can actually fuel frustration and bingeing.<\/p>\n Several signs should raise a flag: thinking about food constantly, feeling guilty after meals, cycling between restriction and binges, making yourself throw up or avoiding eating in front of others. Eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder, can affect people of any weight. Talk to your doctor, who can refer you to appropriate care, or reach out to an eating disorder support organization in your country.<\/p>\n Keep exploring: put it into practice with our easy, delicious recipes<\/a>, find all our content in the Food<\/a> section and take care of yourself every day with the Well-being<\/a> section.<\/p>","cat_name":"Nutrition","category_nicename":"nutrition","category_parent":6143}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8340"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434540"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":434709,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434540\/revisions\/434709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} These colors that boost the appetite<\/h2>\n
Those that reduce hunger without anyone noticing<\/h2>\n
Does it also influence taste?<\/h2>\n
What you\u2019ll find in the Nutrition section<\/h2>\n
\n
How do you eat a balanced diet without depriving yourself?<\/h2>\n
Our approach<\/h2>\n
Our articles to get you started<\/h2>\n
\n
Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n
What is intuitive eating?<\/h3>\n
Are there foods you should cut out completely?<\/h3>\n
How do you know if you have an eating disorder?<\/h3>\n
What you\u2019ll find in the Nutrition section<\/h2>\n
\n
How do you eat a balanced diet without depriving yourself?<\/h2>\n
Our approach<\/h2>\n
Our articles to get you started<\/h2>\n
\n
Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n
What is intuitive eating?<\/h3>\n
Are there foods you should cut out completely?<\/h3>\n
How do you know if you have an eating disorder?<\/h3>\n