THE EYE AND THE APPETITE

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 60, 4 December 1926, Page 24

THE EYE AND THE APPETITE

i'UE PSYCHOLOGY l>F Uli: TABLE. We constantly aiwert that «e nevei judge by appeal'll lives, tliough we eou vinco nobody- but ourselves b> tlie as section. Tlio shopkeepers know better, and their window.- lime beeomi- in the last few vear- blazes of colour The change is perhaps seen most of all in the shops of the greengrocers where, a row years back most of the stock was kept m dingy boxes in tlie inner dim recesses of the shop, but is nowadays piled in colourful heaps in the window mays a psychologist in the "Daily Mail”). But the grecngroeei Ims not to follow the rules of the school of art or of the dress designer in his displays. What lie shows is not meant merely to be admired It must cry out to be bought and eaten. Tlio colour of fruit, if it is to bo sold, must make an aesthetic appeal, it is true; but an appeal that is related to appetite. Red tomatoes appeal more than pink ones Rich warm oranges, inclining to redness, sell much more readily than yellow oneRosy apples arc far more sought after than greenish ones. And the crafty greengrocer always turns the blushing side of the peach to the front.

It seems that the colours we are in the habit of regarding as "rich” alway- nniKo an appeal where fruit and eatables are concerned. China tea lor example, has been displaced by Indian largely on account of the pallid colour of its brew The same rule seems to govern the choice of pastries in a restaurant. It is this rule, and probably nothing else that make people regard purple grapes as superior to-green ones, and makes the majority of people prefer red wines to white And lifter all. the matter Is reason able enough In a climate like out own, we link comfort and well-being to warmth. Warm, full, glowing colours promise us sati-faction in advance. lie prefer, on our tables, the crisp brown colour of fried or saute potatoes to the uninteresting pallid hue of the boiled ones

It may bo urged that there is reason in the choice. After all the shopper at the fruiterer’s mu-t judge by appearances, since we are not allowed, as we should be in Egypt. Io cut a hole in the melon and look inside to handle and pinch nnd smell at our pleasure These colourings it will be urged are real indications of ripeness and flavour. True —in -onie eases. But look back again through the list. In the case of oranges, there is a tingle exception Large numbers of wo men dete-t blood oranges So far as 1 have been able to investigate the matter,. women like red as a colour provided that it does not call up blood. Most women are averse from blood even though they are free of foolish terrors regarding it. I believe that hail the orange been called, say the "Cardinal orange,” many who dislike it would feel differently about it. One very common colour prejudice seems to have no rational foundation whatever. The rich, warm brown colour of the shell of an egg makes an irresistible appeal to most women, and the grocer has to call artifice to his aid in order to dispose of those eggs which are not naturally brown One woman I know says that’ the white-shelled eggs recall to her strongly the "pot eggs” with which her father used to encourage his hens to lay. But the majority have no such recollection, the brown appealing merely because it is a warm rich colour, promising comfort and satisfaction. Even men nre not indifferent to tlie colour of the boiled eggs served to them.