It is time for another exciting installment of small questions. Specifically, let’s discuss the packaging of sausages. Now I’ve seen sausage being made, and when it comes out of the machine, it differs from how it looks when you purchase it. For example, when you look at the sausage that you buy from a major distributor, all the sausages in the package are curved. So, why are the sausages curved? Is this the natural state of the pig intestines (casings) and the sausage eventually bends to this basic structure or is something else at play?
In this case, I think I have the answer – marketing. If the sausages were straight, the package would be smaller. If one of the competitors had a package with the same amount of meat in it, but the sausages were curved, the package would have to be bigger to accommodate the different form. Thus, an illusion is created. Your eye sees something larger and you assume you get more for the same price, but you could read the packages and know that they contain the same amount of food. Who knows, I could be wrong.
As always, Theodore asking the tough questions.