The name before the spoon

An original exposition about an invented tasting trial.

At our first tasting, one table received bowls labelled "traditional root soup". The tasters called it comforting and rich. At another table, the same soup was introduced as an "experimental vegetable blend". There it was described as thin, strange and unfinished. Both servings had come from the same pot.

For the next session, we replaced the recipe names with the codes R7 and S4. The real names remained sealed in an envelope until everyone had commented on aroma, texture and flavour. This time, the tasters had to respond to what was in each bowl before learning what someone else had decided to call it.

A title can season food before the spoon reaches the mouth. "Traditional" carries a promise of familiarity, while "experimental" may send people searching for faults. A recipe still needs a name, but during a tasting that name becomes an extra ingredient. Hiding it does not improve the soup; it simply gives the soup the chance to speak first.

How does the writer explain why recipe names were hidden during the tasting?