Whether you delight in the culinary creations of Ottolenghi or enjoy the sumptuous meals found in Nigella’s cookbooks, there’s a universal joy in combining flavors and textures when preparing food. Intriguingly, recent research indicates that certain cockatoos share this pleasure.

Scientists have previously noted that some of these birds dunk dry rusks into water before consuming them, mirroring the human habit of dipping biscuits in tea, which highlights a potential fondness for a soggier texture.

Now, researchers have discovered that these birds also enjoy dipping pasta into blueberry soy yogurt.

“In an experiment, the birds faced a dilemma where their food lacked flavor. They then turned to the yogurt, submerging it as we might do with fries and ketchup, before enjoying the combined dish,” explained Jeroen Zewald, the lead author from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna. “And whenever they ran short, they repeated the process.”

The research team identified that the only prior evidence of animals flavoring their food dates back to a 1960s study, which observed Japanese macaques dipping potatoes in salt water.

In their published work in the journal Current Biology, Zewald and his colleague Dr. Alice Auersperg recount how their curiosity was piqued when they saw two captive Goffin’s cockatoos dunking cooked potato pieces into blueberry soy yogurt during breakfast.

The duo subsequently conducted 14 trials, each spanning 30 minutes, where a group of 18 birds was offered bowls containing either pasta and cauliflower or potatoes and carrots, alongside three dipping options: blueberry soy yogurt, plain soy yogurt, and fresh water.

Interestingly, the birds chose not to dunk the carrots or cauliflower in any of the dips. However, nine of the cockatoos submerged pasta, potatoes, or a combination of both into the soy yogurt, favoring the blueberry variant over the plain one. This observation indicates that their behavior was motivated by more than just a textural preference. Furthermore, the cockatoos opted to consume the blueberry soy yogurt directly rather than the plain one.

The research team believes it is unlikely that the cockatoos were merely trying to make their food soggy, as the items were already soft. Notably, the birds did not dip their food in water, and their dunking time in soy yogurt averaged about three seconds—significantly shorter than the over twenty seconds observed when they dunked dry rusks in water.

Instead, the researchers posit that the cockatoos were enhancing the flavor of their food. Subsequent trials indicated that their preference for blueberry soy yogurt was not influenced by its color alone.

The team observed the birds engaging enthusiastically in the dunking process, rolling and pressing their food into the yogurt to ensure maximum coverage.

“They consumed both the food and yogurt together, never licking the yogurt off beforehand, which indicates their enjoyment of the combined flavor,” the authors noted.

Zewald mentioned that this behavior seems to be a novel development, though it’s unclear if it spread from one bird to others or if it developed independently among different individuals.

“If this behavior were innate, we would expect the entire group to exhibit it. Yet, not all do, and we haven’t observed it in the wild either,” he remarked.

Zewald also emphasized the cockatoos’ strong preference for dunking pasta in blueberry soy yogurt, humorously adding, “I personally tried it out. I can’t quite understand their preference—it’s not something I would recommend.”