Taste vs Texture

Which should be the most important criteria for Food Quality - Taste or Texture?

I always ask people, what is more important in checking quality of food: Taste or Texture. Taste of course!! Spat comes the reply.

Texture according to me is the first thing that comes to mind when evaluating any food product. It is one of the most important attributes used by consumers to assess food quality. Taste always comes secondary. When a person evaluates the quality of food, the first thing that makes an impression on his psyche is the externality professed by the item. Texture of food items also called "Mouthfeel" is a product's physical feel in the mouth and even outside it, when you look at it, smell it or even envision it. Sometimes perception of taste is even disguised by its texture e.g. Wines, which are usually graded on its quality more by texture than taste.

It has been researched that when consumers eat, the quality is more subtly defined by how the food feels outside and inside the mouth. Cohesiveness, gumminess, crispiness, mouth-coating, graininess, smoothness, uniformity etc. are some of its manifestations which the people analyse sub-consciously when eating.

Taste is more often than not, dependent on the no. of taste buds you have. A person may like a particular food's taste and the other may darn well reject it as filth. There cannot be a consistent taste quality assurance criteria related to food. However, regarding texture, it is more of feel of food that comes out which is sub-conscious in nature along with numerous testing methodologies like NMR, Spectroscopy etc.

I would take two examples for my point. First is regarding 5 star hotels. Whenever you go to a 5 star hotel, you always find it wanting on taste of food. Invariably, the taste of road-side vendors' food is much better than the 5 star food. What than sets it apart?? Yes, its quality manifested in its world class texture and aesthetic appeal. The best thing there is the food looks way better and feels way better than the one you see on road side. And do you say the quality of food is better in hotels or road-side?

Second example is regarding health-foods and regionally abundant food items. Typical example is bland food items like chauli, gawarfali, lauki etc. These don't provide taste per say and are often advised to be eaten without enhancements. Now, how do you choose between different vendors providing the same item: Great, How the food feels and looks! That is the first impression of food you get, which you associate with quality, however, taste comes in picture now, because it’s like a brand which you consciously develop in your own pretty mind, but it never should be a criteria for quality (There however are few differentiated food item categories where the tastes are so well standardized that it evolves as quality criterion).

In conclusion I would say that when you prepare a dish, make sure it looks good and feels good, coz' even if it tastes divine but looks horrible, people just won't touch it!