It’s become almost impossible to have a quick doomscroll on TikTok without seeing at least one video of someone eating something.

A perfectly timed crunch. A slow, exaggerated cheese pull. The unmistakable crack of a chocolate shell. It’s the kind of content you don’t just watch anymore, you listen to. And more often than not, you feel it.

Before you know it, you’re not even focused on what they’re eating, but how it sounds. It’s a small shift, but an important one. Because it says a lot about how our relationship with food is evolving.

We’re no longer just eating with our eyes. We’re eating with our ears.

Sound as the new ingredient

Food has always been multisensory. The sizzle of a pan, the clink of cutlery, the hum of a busy restaurant. These are all part of the experience. But sound is no longer just background noise. It’s becoming a hero ingredient.

From ASMR to mukbang, entire genres of content have been built around the sonic pleasure of eating. And it’s not niche behaviour, it’s shaping mainstream expectations. 66% of Britons now purchase food and drink after seeing it online, often in formats where sound plays a central role.

The implication is clear: how something sounds is increasingly influencing how we think it will taste. Crunch signals freshness. Fizz signals refreshment. A slow, melting bite signals indulgence. Sound is becoming a proxy for flavour.

From watching to feeling

What’s interesting is how this taps into something deeper than just marketing. We’re living in a moment where people are actively seeking ways to feel more present. To slow down. To reconnect with their senses.

This shows up in everything from “little treat” culture to the rise of mindful snacking - with 81% of people globally focusing on the sensory aspects of what they eat.

Food is no longer just functional. It’s experiential. Emotional. Even therapeutic. Sound plays a critical role in that.

It has the ability to ground us, to heighten anticipation and to create intimacy. It’s why mukbang creators can build entire communities through something as simple as a shared eating moment. It’s why brands are starting to design not just how food looks or tastes, but how it feels in the moment of consumption.

The rise of sonic branding

For hospitality and F&B brands, this opens up an entirely new creative territory. We’ve moved beyond the era of jingles. Today, sound is being treated as a system - something modular, adaptable, and embedded across the entire experience. Think less about a single audio asset, and more about a sonic identity.

From the fizz of a can opening to the snap of a chocolate bar, brands are deliberately engineering sound cues that reinforce how a product should be experienced. Some are going further still, pairing food with music designed to influence how it tastes. Using principles from neurogastronomy to enhance sweetness, richness or texture.

It’s a shift from designing products to designing perceptions.

A fine line to walk

Of course, not all sound is created equal.

What feels satisfying to one person can feel overwhelming, or even irritating, to another. The same exaggerated slurp or crunch that signals indulgence can quickly tip into discomfort, particularly in a world where content is constant and unavoidable.

There’s also the risk of homogenisation. If every brand leans into the same amplified cues, the effect loses impact. What once felt immersive becomes noise. 

The opportunity, then, isn’t simply to add sound, but to use it with intention. To understand where it enhances the experience, and where it detracts from it.

What this means for hospitality

For hospitality brands, this shift is particularly compelling. Unlike packaged goods, hospitality has always been inherently sonic. The atmosphere of a space, from music to acoustics to the rhythm of service, plays a critical role in shaping how people feel.

But it’s rarely designed with the same level of intention as visuals or menus. There’s an opportunity here to rethink that.

To consider how sound can elevate key moments: the arrival, the first bite, the energy of a room, the quiet of a late-night table, the sounds from the open kitchen. These are all sensory touchpoints that can be shaped, refined and aligned with a brand’s identity.

Not louder. Not more. Just more considered.

Final Thought

We often talk about the future of food in terms of ingredients, formats or technology. But increasingly, it’s about perception. How something looks. How it’s shared. How it makes you feel. And now, how it sounds.

Because in a world where attention is fleeting and experiences are everything, the brands that stand out won’t just be the ones that taste good. They’ll be the ones that know exactly how they should sound.