The Food Myth

THE FOOD MYTH

OS_112015.P00.indd 1 10/21/15 5:04 PM OS57_092-101 Brain Food.indd 92 10/22/15 3:21 PM OS57_092-101 Brain Food.indd 93 10/22/15 3:21 PM WHAT IF WE TOLD YOU THAT THE FLAVOUR OF YOUR FOOD HAD MORE TO DO WITH YOUR SENSE OF SMELL THAN WHAT WAS GOING ON IN YOUR MOUTH? WHAT IF WE SAID THAT, IN THE FUTURE, EATING OUT WOULD BE A FULLY IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE INVOLVING FOOD THAT HAS NEVER TASTED SO GOOD? THE FUTURE IS HERE AND IT HAS A GRIP ON YOUR SENSES WORDS: MARK JOHANSON ILLUSTRATIONS: KYLE SMART

ry a quick experiment the next flavour – namely which bits of our brains In fact, research shows that smell may time a member of cabin crew light up when we’re tasting something,” account for as much as 80 to 90 per cent T drops by with food or drink. It’s explains Oxford professor Charles of what we perceive as flavour. Anyone nothing too demanding. Just take a bite Spence, author of The Perfect Meal. who’s ever had a cold and couldn’t or sip, think about how it tastes, then “The hope is that, by understanding the stomach the taste of their food already plug in your headphones and tune in to brain mechanisms underpinning how knows this, though they might not have one of the classical or jazz music stations. we experience flavours, we can better realised it at the time. What sort of sounds do you hear? design foods and beverages.” What it is that Spence is trying to Is it an upbeat and higher-pitched song Spence is kind of like the Yoda of discover is how various stimuli play a role with, say, a twinkling piano or chimes? If neurogastronomy. His Crossmodal in our dining experience. And his lab is so, you may find that your food or drink Research Laboratory is full of gizmos kind of like a kitchen for mad scientists. tastes slightly sweeter than before. But like aroma machines and taste pumps, “Imagine somebody comes in to the maybe it’s a slower and lower-pitched and he dishes out new studies at a lab,” he says, describing a typical day song you’re listening to, like brassy jazz dizzying rate that highlight the ways in at the office. “It’s a dark, silent room, or bass-heavy blues. These sounds might which “off plate” elements impact our maybe in a soundproof booth, and they bring out the bitter and umami tastes. perceptions of flavour. have a couple of tubes just underneath Researchers call this subtle change Up until recently food was discussed their nostrils and a couple of tubes lying in flavour perception “sonic seasoning,” almost exclusively in terms of taste. But on top of their tongue. We can deliver and it’s an important element within according to Spence, eating is actually one specific smells and specific tastes at the emerging field of research known of the most multisensory experiences we the same time, or different times, or as neurogastronomy. all have on a daily basis. Food isn’t just matching combinations of smell and “Neurogastronomy is the name given something we taste; it’s something we taste like sweetness on the tongue and to studies that look at the brain on touch, see, hear, and, above all else, smell. strawberry to the nose, or mismatching

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OS57_092-101 Brain Food.indd 95 10/22/15 3:21 PM FOOD IS ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY DISCUSSED IN TERMS OF TASTE, BUT EATING IS ONE OF THE MOST MULTISENSORY EXPERIENCES WE HAVE

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combinations like the smell of chicken stock and a sweet taste.” Spence gets his subjects to respond and differentiate what they’re perceiving: How intense is it? How much do they like it? What shape are they thinking of at any given moment? If he plays music, can he enhance the experience of taste? It all might sound a bit crazy, but new insights into our multisensory perception of flavour have already had wide sweeping impacts on the products we consume. Have you noticed that several of your favourite chocolate bars recently hit the shelves with a “new shape”? That’s because a study sponsored by Nestlé found that curves – as opposed to straight lines – enhance inmouth perceptions of melting. Nestlé boils it down to something called “mouth geometry”: A curved shape is simply a better fit for your oral cavity. Other companies, like Unilever, are experimenting with reducing the sodium content of their food products while still maintaining the same salty taste by adding high levels of savoury aromas. Using 60 test subjects and two samples of beef bouillon, researchers found that a combination of potassiumbased salt replacers and savoury aromas could compensate for a 30 per cent reduction of sodium without any noticeable change in the flavour profile. Companies have also begun enhancing their products by offering sensory apps. Take agenas, for example. It recently released a ‘Concerto App’ that lets consumers scan a QR code on each ice cream carton to enjoy a private, twominute concerto. The brand believes this virtualreality showcase – a fiddler literally pops up from the carton top when viewed through your phone – will give the ice cream enough time to temper so that it’s at an ideal consistency when eaten. Rival Ben & Jerry’s, meanwhile, is rumoured to be developing a soundtrack to pair with its flavours. Perhaps the most exiting practical application of this research in neurogastronomy (and the closely related field of gastrophysics is how new ideas are filtering down into restaurant kitchens around the globe.

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“There are many chefs who can look Fantasy Food at the science and turn it into wonderful, creative, talked about, stimulating Five of the world’s best multisensory eating experiences experiences,” Spence said. “They will take an idea, put it on the menu, try it out, and you have the perfect environment to bring something away from the lab. You have real diners paying real money for real experiences.” Ultraviolet portions of hot and iced tea that don’t blend Spence believes there’s a new Ultraviolet is Shanghai’s most mysterious or Blumenthal’s signature Sound Of The generation of chefs right now who, for restaurant (it has no postal address) and Sea, which comes with an iPod tucked into the first time in history, are “thinking the culmination of 15 years of meticulous a conch shell to enhance the salinity of the about the minds of their diners and not planning from French chef Paul Pairet. Diners seafood it’s paired with. just about the sourcing, preparation and meet at an agreed spot and are ushered to thefatduck.co.uk presentation of the food on the plate”. a table in a bare-bones room nearby with One of his early collaborators was chef no décor whatsoever. As the 20-course Heston Blumenthal, whose three Michelin- meal begins, however, they find themselves starred restaurant, The Fat Duck, is located completely bombarded with stimulation, in the British village of Bray. Exploring from 360-degree wall projections to scent natural affinities between taste and sound, diffusers and mood lighting. The immersive alinea the pair discovered in 2007 that diners dining experience is choreographed in Chef Grant Achatz has brought the culinary perceive seafood as stronger and saltier a way that’s said to enhance the flavour carnival to Chicago with his inventive and when accompanied with the sounds perceptions of each dish. wildly acclaimed restaurant Alinea. From of the ocean – even if those seagull uvbypp.cc surprising scents to culinary pyrotechnics squawks and pounding waves emanated and mood-altering lights, dining at Alinea from a speaker. A dish resulting from the is nothing short of an adventure for the collaboration, called Sound Of The Sea, five senses. One of the most theatrical has became one of Blumenthal’s signature dishes has to be the Green Apple Balloon. items: A sculptural plate of seafood, tickets Bar This edible inflatable is made from apple seaweed and panko “sand” that comes The name is like a cruel joke because taffy that’s been puffed up with helium with an iPod tucked into a conch shell. tickets to Barcelona’s famed Tickets Bar and attached to an “apple leather” string. “Now more than ever the line are few and far between. But those who Guests pop the balloon to enjoy flavours between food and science is being do secure a spot (generally two months lighter than air. blurred,” Blumenthal explains. “Our in advance) can expect everything from alinearestaurant.com senses are so entangled and intertwined exploding olives to edible trees made of that the possibilities of what we can cotton candy in this eclectic tapas bar create are endless… I think we almost from Ferran Adrià, of El Bulli fame, and need to go back to the basics, examining his brother, Albert. Tickets draws equal how our primal senses react to the inspiration from the theatre and the circus, world around us to harness this in our with dishes that dabble in sensory-altering sUBlimotion enjoyment of food.” magic of the mind. Travel around the world, from the Spanish Sound Of The Sea was developed in ticketsbar.es island of Ibiza to the bottom of the ocean the early days of multisensory dining, a and the depths of outer space, on this movement that has since ballooned in 20-course culinary journey from Michelin- size and scope, birthing new restaurants stared chef Paco Roncero. Just 12 diners at akin to culinary funhouses. International a time are allowed into Sublimotion’s high- food and restaurant consultants Baum tech room (which is encased in ever-shifting + Whiteman called multisensory the Fat dUck screens) to witness the happy marriage of dining one of the 11 hottest food and Heston Blumenthal was at the forefront of visual arts, haut cuisine and virtual reality beverage trends for 2015, and new neurogastronomy before the science even courtesy of the latest wearable technology offerings include Ultraviolet In Shanghai had a name, and his iconic restaurant, The from Samsung. Various stimuli are meant or Sublimotion In Ibiza. Both invite Fat Duck, will return to the British village to trick the mind and enhance all five diners to eat multicourse meals in a of Bray later this year after a six-month senses for a greater appreciation of the highly stylised environment where lights, stint at Melbourne’s Crown Towers hotel. multisensory perceptions of taste. sounds, temperatures and aromas are Expect concoctions like a cup with equal sublimotionibiza.com

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OS57_092-101 Brain Food.indd 98 10/22/15 4:27 PM If you’re interested in food and cooking check out Lifestyle TV on ice Digital Widescreen for shows like Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and episodes of top shows from Food Network.

RESEARCH SHOWS THAT SMELL MAY ACCOUNT FOR AS MUCH AS 80 TO 90 PER CENT OF WHAT WE PERCEIVE AS FLAVOUR

ever-shifting and meticulously controlled trend where chefs put all of the to tease out certain flavours. ingredients on one side of the pate and Other restaurants have used the leave the rest of the surface blank. The foodfixated brainiac also hopes research in neurogastronomy in subtler Spence hopes that the best of what new insights into our multisensory ways, crafting soundscapes with synesthetic works at the lab, the public experiments perception of flavour will percolate down matches between taste and music or using and these exclusive restaurants will to everywhere from hospital dining science to discover the most appealing birth new ideas in the near future, like rooms to airline cabins, where pressure ways of plating a dish. The latter is the multisensory cinemas or restaurants and engine noise can dull the senses. subject of an exhibit at the London Science where portable devices aren’t a nuisance, ust imagine if on your next flight you Museum, where Spence teamed up with but rather wholly integrated into the had a curated soundtrack to add some several up-and-coming chefs to see if dining experience through apps or sonic seasoning to your meal, or an aroma the way they intuitively plate their dishes iPad “lightplates” (already available at stick to bring out the sweet and salty matches up with how everyday museum- chauenstein chloss in witerland. “No elements, which are most affected by goers would want them. matter how great the food is,” he explains, altitude. This, pence believes, is the future ne interesting find ost people “people will appreciate it that much more of dining, where taste is only the beginning abhor asymmetrical plating, a current if everything else around is optimised.” and flavour is a multisensory mind game.

NOW DO THIS AT HOME PLAY WITH LIGHT How to enhance your PLAY WITH PLATES Purchase a multicoloured LED light (with eating experience At your next dinner party try serving the same remote control), plug it in above your dinner dessert to your guests on vastly different table, and experiment with how different plates. Experiments conducted at El Bulli’s test settings affect the flavours of your food. kitchen in Spain found that diners perceived According to Spence, red lighting can bring strawberry mousse served on a white plate out fruitiness or sweetness, while a green as sweeter than the same dessert served on light can bring out sour and fresh notes. Trying a black plate. Subsequent research found that to loose weight? Recent research from the round plates accentuate sweetness, while University Of Arkansas shows that a blue light heavier plates enhance perceptions of flavour. may trick you into eating less. PLAY WITH SMELL The majority of what we think of as taste actually comes from our nose. One easy way to enhance the smell of a dish at home is to prepare it right at the table. You could, for PLAY WITH CUTLERY example, cook fish or meat in a smoker bag Speaking of heavy plates – heavy cutlery can PLAY WITH SHAPE and slice that bag open right in front of your also enhance diners’ perceptions of flavour. Shape is one of the most overlooked elements family or friends so the aromas stay at the A team from Spence’s Crossmodal Research of flavour, but it can be particularly important table. You can also play with the cutlery by Laboratory conducted a large-scale dining when it comes to preparing desserts. The wrapping various herbs around the handle experiment at a Scottish restaurant earlier Crossmodal Research Laboratory found of a fork and seeing how those smells affect this year and found that diners who ate with that sweetness is matched with roundness, the taste of the food. heavy cutlery were willing to pay 15 per cent bitterness is matched with angularity, and sour more for their food than those who ate with the tastes tend to be angular and asymmetrical. restaurant’s normal, lighter utensils.

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