Food and colour

The colour of food has quite an impact on our choice of what we eat. We instinctively prefer the colours red, orange and yellow over green and blue, which tend to represent bitterness and oxidization. Man is naturally attracted towards sweet food and dislikes all things bitter, a tendency which is evident right from birth. However, such preferences are also influenced by our individual experiences and education, cultural norms and tendencies. The colour of a particular foodstuff can also influence our perception of tastes, flavours and odours and we often associate certain colours with particular tastes: pink with sweet things, green with salty food and the colour orange with spicy food.

In the world of plants, colours come from four main pigments:
vegetables

Chlorophyll

spinach

artichokes

lettuce

cucumber

Carotenoids

carrots

sweet potatoes

bell peppers

tomatoes

Anthocyanins

radishes

aubergines

red cabagge

black beans

Flavonols

celery

broccoli

chamomile tea

olive oil

All green plants contain chlorophyll, the green pigment which is essential for photosynthesis to take place. However, chlorophyll is unstable and easily turns brown during cooking, hence it often undergoes chemical processing to stabilise the green colour.

What do all of these examples have in common? They all contain natural colouring agents known as carotenoids. Zeaxanthin allows for orangey-yellow colour while higher concentrations of lycopene make elements red. Scientific research has found very high concentrations of zeaxanthin and lutein in the retina and these two pigments protect against macular degeneration and cataracts.

Food appears pink, dark red, purple or blue thanks to a group of natural colouring agents called anthocyanins. One of the special properties of anthocyanins is that their colour can vary between from pink/purple via blue to orange/yellow depending on the acidity of their environment.

The word ‘flavonoid’ is derived from the Latin word flavus meaning yellow. Flavonoids impart both color and protection to the plants and make them safe for consumption. They have anti-oxidant, anti-mutagenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-viral properties, so these compounds that can be developed as therapeutic entities.