THE SCIENCE of FLAVOUR

It’s the sensory reaction that can deliver pure joy or abject horror. For chefs, it can define careers. And while it can’t be taught, you can train yourself to appreciate different flavours. So just what exactly happens when you put food in your mouth and why do we all experience it differently?

“Taste and aroma work together to make flavour, but they are in fact different things,” explains molecular nutritionist Dr Emma Beckett. There are five basic tastes that occur in the mouth, which we are all familiar with: sweet, savoury, bitter, salt and sour. At the same time, we experience aroma through our nose.“This gives you the rest of the complexity of the food flavour experience – all the unique flavours like vanilla, chicken or strawberry. These exist in our mind because