Here come the... meat patch!
Strong Roots, an Irish vegetarian frozen food brand, has teamed up with an our friend Oxford professor Charles Spence to develop an adhesive patch — similar concept as a nicotine patch — that claims to help to curb cravings for bacon.
Unlike a nicotine patch, which releases nicotine via transdermal means, the Strong Roots “meat patch” simply releases the odor of bacon after being scratched by the wearer. A next generation of scratch n’ sniff I suppose.
“Our sense of smell is strongly connected to our ability to taste therefore experiencing food related cues such as smelling a bacon aroma, can lead us to imagine the act of eating that food,” says Spence. “Imagine eating enough bacon and you might find yourself sated,” he added.
The scratch-and-sniff patches, which are currently in a trial phase, are aimed at folks interested in experimenting with a plant-based diet, said Samuel Dennigan, the founder of Strong Roots. “Brits keen to adopt a vegetarian diet are about to get scientifically proven help to wean them off their love of meat,” he claims.
The Telegraph interviewed Graham Innes, a meat-eater from England, who stated that he had no confidence in the psychology behind the idea.
“I’m not going to be satisfied with a cheese sandwich when I can smell bacon coming from the patch — it might work for some, but it would never work for me,” he said. “If I can smell bacon I’ll want to eat bacon — it’s very simple.”