Why does tomato juice taste so good on a plane?
A crossmodal role for audition in taste perception
Loud aeroplane-style noise dulls sweetness but boosts savoury umami, which may explain tomato juice on flights.
Food scientists at Cornell gave volunteers sweet, salty, sour, bitter and savoury solutions to taste, sometimes in quiet and sometimes while playing loud aeroplane cabin noise through headphones.
With the engine roar on, sweet things tasted less sweet but umami flavours tasted stronger. That might be why so many people suddenly fancy a tomato juice at 35,000 feet.
The in-flight menu is being seasoned by the engines.