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Neurogastronomy, when the brain helps create flavours

November 23, 2015

Neurogastronomy looks at how the experience of eating could be modified by factors other than taste and smell. – AFP/Relaxnews pic, November 23, 2015.Neurogastronomy is a relatively new phenomenon in the worlds of neurology and culinary expertise. It seeks to understand why one taste is preferred to another and how the experience of eating could be modified by factors other than taste and smell.

Neuroscientists at the University of Kentucky in the US and a number of renowned chefs have undertaken an experiment to see how patients with taste impairments could recapture the joy of food.

They announced their conclusions at a symposium organised by the International Society of Neurogastronomy which was held in Lexington in the US earlier this month.

During this event, participants could visit eight tasting stations which demonstrated how our perception of flavours is not just influenced by the palate and the tongue.

The participants covered their eyes and nose, sniffed scent jars, and at one station even ate pink cookies while listening to music, discovering that the taste was the same as the black cookies accompanied by harsh music.

The aim was to explore the possibilities of improving the quality of life for patients who had lost their sense of taste or smell as a result of chemotherapy, brain lesions, a stroke, or neurological diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

The eating experience can be changed by taking all our senses into account  

During the "Applied Neurogastronomy Challenge", teams of neuroscientists, chefs and cancer patients competed with each other to make food that would appeal to the taste-impaired by mixing sweet, salty, mild and tart flavours.

The brain uses all the senses to perceive flavour and it influences our dietary decisions. With that in mind, researchers are interested in modifying the eating experience by taking account of all the senses.

For example, a few years ago a Japanese dish was served at The Fat Duck, the restaurant headed by the Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal, with the lapping of waves and the cry of seagulls played on an iPod as background music.

Similarly, in Shanghai, Paul Pairet's Ultraviolet restaurant immerses diners in a "virtual" multi-sensory experience. The atmosphere is created by video projections, distinct musical environments for each dish and different scents diffused from the ceiling and the glass domes brought by the waiters.

And recently, British Airways passengers on long-distance flights have been able to choose the music to accompany their food. The playlist is said to improve the taste of each dish.

Charles Spence, the director of the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at the University of Oxford in the UK, whose research was used as a basis for the British Airways playlist, says that our senses influence the way we perceive food.

For example, eating a fish dish with fancy cutlery gives the impression of a better-tasting meal than if canteen knives and forks are used. The results of this experiment which involved 160 people in Scotland were wholly conclusive. – AFP/Relaxnews, November 23, 2015.