# Why does popcorn taste better if you eat it by the handful? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 19, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-popcorn-taste-better-if-you-eat-it-by-the-handful/631927 "2012-08-19T03:06:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-popcorn-taste-better-if-you-eat-it-by-the-handful/631927/1 "2012-08-19T03:06:52Z")
I enjoy popcorn quite a bit - all varieties - plain, with butter, cheesy-dill, caramel, etc. Why is it that it tastes so much better if you eat big handfulls of it? Other foods are not like this. Other foods taste great if you take normal-sized bites. But the flavour of popcorn is enhanced by stuffing 5 or 6 pieces of it in your mouth at once. Why is that? My dog, who is currently enjoying a bag of double-hit with me, wants to know too. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-popcorn-taste-better-if-you-eat-it-by-the-handful/631927/2 "2012-08-19T07:18:28Z")
But other foods don’t taste as good if you take teeny tiny bites. A handful **is** a normal sized bite for popcorn. A single piece doesn’t have enough flavor to taste. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-popcorn-taste-better-if-you-eat-it-by-the-handful/631927/3 "2012-08-19T12:28:37Z")
Yeah, ike Doug said, it’s air-puffed so you need a lot more of it to get the flavor you would normally get from denser foods. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-popcorn-taste-better-if-you-eat-it-by-the-handful/631927/4 "2012-08-19T13:11:55Z")
I disagree; popcorn tastes the best thrown up in the air and caught in the mouth. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-popcorn-taste-better-if-you-eat-it-by-the-handful/631927/5 "2012-08-19T13:52:15Z")
Volume has been mentioned. The extra pieces force more stuff to touch a greater surface area. More tastebuds go “Aaaah”. Heat: A single morsel taken from the bowl cools much quicker than a handful. The warmth helps the flavor to disperse once in the mouth. This includes the aroma, as well: more warm popped kernels adds to the whole experience. The Chew\* Factor: Your mouth hates it when it has to go thru all that motion and grinding for a little morsel of flavor. If it’s going to do all that work, it wants a larger amount of stuff to taste. - … if only you could see what I’ve seen with your eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-popcorn-taste-better-if-you-eat-it-by-the-handful/631927/6 "2012-08-19T14:34:52Z")
I believe the cupping of a handful of popcorn traps air and particles from inside the bag, transporting more popcorn smell right below your nose. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-popcorn-taste-better-if-you-eat-it-by-the-handful/631927/7 "2012-08-19T14:39:21Z")
I have to disagree. At the movies, I eat one piece at a time. Of course, it’s often cheese-flavored but not always. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-popcorn-taste-better-if-you-eat-it-by-the-handful/631927/8 "2012-08-19T14:50:00Z")
> [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](#): > > I believe the cupping of a handful of popcorn traps air and particles from inside the bag, transporting more popcorn smell right below your nose. I like that hypothesis. I’ll add this one: the starches in popcorn are broken down pretty quickly by salivary enzymes to turn them into sugars. A mouthful of sugar tastes better than the small bit of sugar you get from just one piece at a time because it hits more taste receptors on your tongue. A single piece of popcorn is much smaller in volume than a bite of most foods, once your teeth and saliva hit it. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Mama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-popcorn-taste-better-if-you-eat-it-by-the-handful/631927/9 "2012-08-19T20:50:39Z")
I’m a single-kernel eater, myself. Lasts longer! And I’m VERY possessive of MY popcorn. Keep your grubby hands OFF :dubious: 😃