Tennessee is blending two of the state’s most famous traditions—music and food – to showcase a multisensory dining experience.
The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development invites visitors to savor food in an entirely new way through Sound Bites, a new campaign that treats music as an intentional part of the dining experience.
Sound Bites features Tennessee chefs and artists collaborating on new dishes and original songs designed to be experienced together.
Sound Bites believes that music can amplify how people experience flavor, a phenomenon known as “sonic seasoning.”
Research by Oxford experimental psychologist Dr. Charles Spence shows elements like tempo, pitch and instrumentation can influence how the brain perceives different tastes.
This science comes to life through three original short-form films, now available at TNSoundBites.com. Each film highlights a pairing of Tennessee chefs and artists, including:
East Tennessee: Country artists Lee Brice, David Tolliver and Billy Montana with Chef Jeff Carter of Dancing Bear Appalachian Bistro in Townsend
Middle Tennessee: Singer-songwriter Ben Rector with Chef Philip Krajeck of Rolf and Daughters in Nashville
West Tennessee: Three 6 Mafia co-founder DJ Paul, Southern Avenue, rapper Lil Wyte and Boo Mitchell with Chef Felicia Willett of Felicia Suzanne’s in Memphis
“For centuries, people have paired food with wine. Now, we’re asking, ‘Why not food and music?’” says Tennessee Department of Tourist Development Commissioner Mark Ezell.
“Sound Bites brings together two things Tennessee does better than anywhere else, bold flavors and unforgettable music.”
Sound Bites presents an interactive music pairing tool at TNSoundBites.com.
This tool allows users to create their own unique music-and-food pairings with a Tennessee soundtrack.
Users can enter a dish and the tool identifies its primary flavor profiles. From there, it generates curated playlists to complement those flavors.
Diners can toggle between playlists and explore how music subtly changes the tasting experience.
The short films and the interactive pairing tool are available at TNSoundBites.com
