“Why One Person’s Taste Bliss is Another Person’s Poison" Prof. Tony Blake
Jan 11, 2016
“Why One Person’s Taste Bliss is Another Person’s Poison"
Prof. Tony Blake
“How Human Beings Learn to Like the Flavours of Foods and Drinks"
Prof. Tony Blake
…..of the fruit of the treewhich is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, yeshall not eat of it, neither
shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
....but in spite of this warning Eve was typically human.
Humans are the only animalswhich cook and process thefoods they find…………
…...and in this way create new flavors which never existed before in Nature.
Humans eat the foods which they have created through their methods of cooking and cuisine.
The flavors of these foods are dependent on the cooking processes used and are
consequently man made.
In human history there have been continualchanges in food and flavor preferences
The Evolving Scientific Base of the Flavor IndustryThe Evolving Scientific Base of the Flavor Industry
19th Century 20th Century 21st Century
Solvent Extraction Molecular Separation Physical Chemistry
Steam Distillation Identification Biochemistry
Fractional Distillation Synthetic Organic Chemistry Human Physiology
For most of the 20th Century the focus of the Flavor Industry was the identificationof those molecules which give odor and
taste to food and drinks
1950 to 1990
New analytical techniquesallowed these molecules to be identified at lower levels
and with increasing precision
O
OHO
S
O
S S
O O
O O
S S
Flavor Authenticity depends:
• not only on having the correct molecules
• but also an appropriate delivery system
• and the correct dynamics of delivery
In 1990 Firmenich purchased the Californian company MCP
They had an enviable reputation in organic chemistry but lacked
the science base for understanding the new products acquired with this acquisition
A Case Study in Flavor Release
Control of flavor release was an important
marketing claim but one which couldn’t be
quantified in the most important situation….
….during the eating of food.
In 1996 at the University of Nottingham Prof. Andy Taylor and Dr. Rob Linforth
developed a technique for real-time, in vivo analysis of flavor release from food and
this allowed a new understanding of flavor dynamics and the effects which food structure and composition have on its
perception.
AROMA
sweet
sour
PROFILE
bitter
umami
salty
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0 1 2 3 4 5 6Time (min)
No
rmal
ised
su
cro
se a
nd
m
enth
on
e re
leas
e
0
20
40
60
80
100
120P
erceived In
tensity
Sucrose Release
Menthone Release
Time-Intensity
Courtesy of J. Davidson & A J Taylor. The University of Nottingham
From Breslin et al
Aroma-chology Review, vol. X n°2, pp14-17 (2002)
Almonds are not sweet
Mint leaves are bitter!
What do we taste each day that is minty and sweet?
Our association of flavor and taste is learned.
What exactly is flavour ?
However, brains act in a holistic way...
… and we needed to get inside consumer’s heads
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
fMRI brain scans of people engaged in either hearing (blue)or silent lipreading (red). Common activity is shown yellow.From Calvert et al 1997.
Learning and Cross Modal Connections
Pro
pri
ose
nse
Conscious
Limbic
To
uch
Hea
rin
g
Vis
ion
Olf
acti
on
Tas
te
The most plausible way to explain the inter-sensory
effects we had observed is to conclude that ‘flavour’ is
in fact a construct of the brain…….
.. and it is a learned response
> 80% of the input data is from breath from the mouth passing over the
olfactory bulb in the nose,
but what we see, how it feels,how it tastes, what we hear and
our pleasure and satisfaction will allinfluence the way we remember it.
Flavour is a multi-sensory memory…..
…….which depends on our personal experiences of eating and drinking…...
Conscious
To
uch
Hea
rin
g
Vis
ion
Pro
pri
ose
nse
Olf
acti
on
Tas
te
All our senses play a part in flavor perception
Flavor Processing: more than the sum of its parts.
Small, D., Jones-Gotman, M., Zatorre, M.P. and Evans, A.C.
NeuroReport 8, pp 3913-3917 (1997)
Flavor processing is not represented by a simple convergence of its component senses….changes (seen
with PET imaging) in the amygdala and basal forebrain suggest a role for these structures in
processing novel or unpleasant stimuli.
Zampini, M. and C. Spence (2004 ).
“The role of auditory cues in modulating the crispness and staleness in crisps.”
Journal of Sensory Studies 19, 347-363.
Flavor is Nature’s way of letting food and drink
communicate with us…
…it tells us whether we can swallow what is in our mouth
or if we should spit it out.
…..and we start learning about flavor very early in our lives, several months
before we are born.
This baby already has flavour
preferences which started to develop
seven months before it was born.
Electron micrographshowing the extentand complexity of
connections betweenneurons in the human
brain.
Length of connections in the brain cortex in micrometres
Taken from “Consciousness” Rita Carter 2002.
At birth 3 months 15 months 2 years
Development of dendritic connections between neurons
Girl left with half a brain is fluent in two languages
The Daily Telegraph, May 23, 2002
The Importance of Associative Learning
One would be hard-pressed to find a developmentalneurobiologist who does not agree that early
experiences, especially between mother and infant, influence the pattern of brain connections in
ways that fundamentally shape our future personality and mental health.
Professor Mark SolmsChair of NeuropsychologyUniversity of Cape Town
South Africa
Our brains do not have the capability to form conscious memories until after the age of two, but the development of the
brain in those first two years will greatly affect future attitudes, prejudices and
behavior:
- this will include future preferences for foods, drinks and their flavors.
The liking of wintergreen flavour
depends on nurture not nature
What does wintergreen remind you of ?
Muscle-warming liniment or anti-septic ointment ?
Human beings like to experiment.
Monell Chemical Senses LaboratoryPhiladelphia
Dr. Gary Beauchamp
Professor Leann Lipps BirchCenter for Childhood Obesity Research
Prof. John PrescottJames Cook University
University of Cairns Australia
Odor-Taste Interactions: Effects of Attentional Strategies during exposure.
Prescott, J., Johnstone, V., Francis, J.Chemical Senses 29, pp 331 - 340, (2004)
Professor Fergus Lowe
Dr Martin Yeomans
Sutton Bonington Campus of theUniversity of Nottingham
Reproduced from
The making of culinary tradition in Japan”
J.K. Cwiertka. 1999
Balut
The Philippino Delicacy
In which category do
you fit ?
There is much that we do not understand about the human brain; the way it determineswhich foods and flavours we like is just one
of the areas open for study.
Flavour in foodEdited by
A Voilley, Université de Bourgogne and P Etievant, INRA, France
Woodhead Publishing 2006