--- title: Food: Heavier Fork and Knife Might Make Your Next Meal More Enjoyable description: Weightier cutlery has that effect canonical: https://time.com/3988924/heavier-fork-enjoyable-meal/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-07T15:30:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:14.164Z article:section: Health og:title: A Heavier Fork and Knife Might Make Your Next Meal More Enjoyable og:description: Weightier cutlery has that effect og:url: https://time.com/3988924/heavier-fork-enjoyable-meal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt380ec3a23cc3fa66/698777ae8e0601c9b145979d/cutlery.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3606 og:image:height: 2028 og:image:alt: Fork, knife and spoon on dishcloth og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Heavier Fork and Knife Might Make Your Next Meal More Enjoyable twitter:description: Weightier cutlery has that effect twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt380ec3a23cc3fa66/698777ae8e0601c9b145979d/cutlery.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Heavier Fork and Knife Might Make Your Next Meal More Enjoyable > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Kids Who Are Picky Eaters Might Develop Depression, Anxiety [Watch (HLS stream): Kids Who Are Picky Eaters Might Develop Depression, Anxiety](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9Ss9RQJo.m3u8) (1:08)  _Published 2015-08-03. A study published in the journal Pediatrics suggests children with a high aversion to certain foods might develop mood disorders later in life._ by [Kelly Bryant / MIMI](https://time.com/author/mimi/) ## Kelly Bryant / MIMI Author Aug 7, 2015 3:30 PM UTC  Fork, knife and spoon on dishcloth Fork, knife and spoon on dishcloth Getty Images by [Kelly Bryant / MIMI](https://time.com/author/mimi/) ## Kelly Bryant / MIMI Author Aug 7, 2015 3:30 PM UTC [_MIMI_](https://www.mimichatter.com/) _is a Time Inc. property._ The next time you’re feasting on a delicious meal consider the idea that there may be another variable at play making it extra tasty. According to an Oxford University research team, weightier cutlery actually intensifies a diner’s satisfaction with their food. The study was conducted among 130 restaurant patrons at a hotel eatery in Edinburg, Scotland. Each participant was served the same exact meal, consisting of trout, mashed potatoes, spinach capers and brown ship butter, [according to _Food & Wine_](https://www.yahoo.com/food/a-heavy-knife-and-fork-affects-how-your-food-125281657899.html). Half of the diners were provided with cutlery three times heavier than the cheaper flatware given to the rest of those in the group. The diners participants who ate their meals using the heavier forks and knives reported enjoying their meals around 10 percent more and said they would be willing to pay 15 percent more for the dish. Referred to as “sensation transference,” [the study’s lead researcher Charles Michel told _Wired UK_](http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-07/23/heavy-cutlery-food-taste-better) he finds it “interesting to think that the heavier weight of cutlery could be making us more mindful, without us realizing it.” Do you think this means I can blame any future dinner party disasters on my flatware? I’m going to tuck this study away just in case. _This_ [_article_](https://www.mimichatter.com/heavy-knives-forks-food-tastes-1283737234.html) _originally appeared on_ [_MIMI_](https://www.mimichatter.com/)_._ _More from MIMI:_ * [How Yeast Can Help Your Skin](https://www.mimichatter.com/yeast-skin-care-ingredient-1280941926.html) * [Spice Things Up for a Longer Life](https://www.mimichatter.com/spicy-chili-peppers-longer-life-1283795430.html) * [How One Female Engineer Is Starting an Internet Revolution](https://www.mimichatter.com/female-engineer-social-media-movement-1283942239.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3988924/heavier-fork-enjoyable-meal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3988924/heavier-fork-enjoyable-meal/"},"headline":"A Heavier Fork and Knife Might Make Your Next Meal More Enjoyable","datePublished":"2015-08-07T15:30:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:58:14.164Z","description":"Weightier cutlery has that effect","url":"https://time.com/3988924/heavier-fork-enjoyable-meal/","keywords":["Diet & Nutrition"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt380ec3a23cc3fa66/698777ae8e0601c9b145979d/cutlery.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kelly Bryant / MIMI"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt380ec3a23cc3fa66/698777ae8e0601c9b145979d/cutlery.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Fork, knife and spoon on dishcloth","caption":"Fork, knife and spoon on dishcloth","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/dietnutrition/","name":"Diet & Nutrition"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3988924/heavier-fork-enjoyable-meal/","name":"A Heavier Fork and Knife Might Make Your Next Meal More Enjoyable"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Kids Who Are Picky Eaters Might Develop Depression, Anxiety","description":"A study published in the journal Pediatrics suggests children with a high aversion to certain foods might develop mood disorders later in life.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/9Ss9RQJo/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-08-03T19:58:33.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9Ss9RQJo.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3988924/heavier-fork-enjoyable-meal/","duration":"PT1M8S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3988924/heavier-fork-enjoyable-meal/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```