• FQAM Online: Volume Two
• Variety
  • Differentiation: Where the Profits Are
  • Innovation with Latin Flavors
• Sustainability
  • What Can Food Service Do?
  • Conquering "Can't-Be-Done" Thinking
• Flavor
  • The Mechanics of Taste
  • Flavor Experiment
• Innovation
  • What's New? What's Next?
  • Sandwiches with a Vietnamese Accent
• Online Marketplace
• Resources and Recipes
  • Conference Resources
  • Moroccan Charmoula
  • Romesco Sauce and Romesco Vinaigrette
  • Harissa Vinaigrette and Mayonnaise
  • Vietnamese Sandwich
  • Vietnamese Braised Pork
  • Marinated Daikon and Carrots
  • Coriander Vinaigrette
• FQAM Online: Volume One

The Mechanics of Taste

Even chefs—the ultimate "taste professionals"—don't often understand how our senses of taste and smell work. Many people confuse the two senses, mistaking aromas for tastes. Often, what we describe as a taste is really a smell.

Paul Rozin, a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, demonstrates this phenomenon to his students by spraying aerosolized chocolate in the classroom. The students unanimously say they smell chocolate. But when he sprays the same aerosol on the palates of a couple of volunteers, they will say they taste chocolate. In fact, their noses are still doing the work and the volunteers are smelling chocolate, not tasting it.

Taste happens only in the mouth, says Hildegarde Heymann, a professor of sensory science at the University of California at Davis. And while we recognize thousands of aromas, we experience only five tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami, the savory sensation.

Remember the tongue map—the illustration that shows you where different tastes are perceived on the tongue (sour on the sides, for example)? Forget about it. This idea is "one of the biggest lies perpetrated in the taste community," says Heymann. Our tongues perceive all the tastes all over, not in isolated spots.

Many people use the words flavor and taste interchangeably, but they are not the same. Flavor incorporates aroma as well as the five tastes we perceive on our tongue plus those oral sensations like astringency and cold. If you want to mute the flavor of something, serve it chilled.

Flavors aren't cumulative, says Heymann. A mixture is less intense than the sum of its parts. Think about a Thai hot and sour soup, which might be almost intolerable if the sensations were additive instead of complementary. Chefs should be aware of two exceptions, however. A little salt does enhance sweetness, which is why we often put a pinch of salt in cakes and cookies. And umami heightens many flavors, so that splash of soy sauce in a marinade or sprinkle of Parmesan cheese on pasta—both high-umami ingredients—are enhancing the dish more than you think.