Science of Flavors

Abstract: The flavor of food is what compels us to eat certain items. The taste sensations of different food combinations are at time mesmerizing. The restaurant industry has long been based on tending to the need of the consumer, feeding them good food. As economic times change, there are more appearances of chain casual dining restaurants. Consequently, the change brought a need of consistency of food products. Food science is a field where the study of people and food. The field has been contributing immensely to the successful expansion of the chain restaurant industry. The science of flavor has proven to be extremely marketable and flavorful.

Science of Flavors

And the

Restaurant Industry

The restaurant industry has long been established on the service of good food. Stand alone restaurants bringing the fine and new flavorful cuisines are very hard to come by nowadays. The massive trend of chain casual dining restaurants is in effect, and it does not seem to be slowing down. Since the chain system of restaurants works on brand recognition there is a standard system for every aspect of the restaurants niche that each establishment must follow. In addition, since these casual dining establishments work on a volume base commission, they need to produce good food, fast; furthermore, each dish needs to be the same every time. The consistency of the food throughout every chain establishment produces a problem in the casual dining nation, which is why all the franchises are turning to the science of food; in other words, food science. Food science has been producing phenomenal feats throughout the restaurant industry. The study of food and people's perception of flavors has proven to be very marketable throughout the casual dining sector.

The Science of Flavors

First and foremost an diminutive understanding of flavor is necessary. Flavor is a complex mixture of sensory input of the food being eaten. The composed sensory input is: taste (gustation); smell (olfaction); tactile sensations; and visual sensations. Although people may use the word "taste" to mean "flavors" in the strict sense it is applicable only to the sensation arising from specialized taste cells in the mouth. Those taste cells are the taste detectors distributed all throughout the tongue. The taste detectors are specialized configurations commonly referred to as taste buds. (Margolskee, Smith 2001)

Usually the first step in food consumption and much of food's flavor is perceived through the olfacotory impression on the mind. The reason being is that humans can distinguish and recognize several thousands of odors and some in very small concentrations. (Drewonski 2001; Levenson 1995) The next step in eating's sensory input comes from the four basic categories of taste perceptions. The four basic taste perceptions around the whole tongue are: saltiness; sourness; sweetness; and bitterness. However, Asian science has long disputed for the fifth quality sensed by human taste, which is 'umami.' All in all the whole eating process starts with what one eats.

Taste Buds

The perfect tool in order to visualize what our taste receptors are would be to give a step-by-step illustration. Thomas Levenson gives an appealing visualization of what humans tongues are made up of with his work with Linda Bartoshuk, a leading authority on taste:

First Bartoshuk paints the front third of my tongue with a blue stain and then holds a glass slide over the blue patch...video microscope positioned above it... What the camera records is a peculiar, almost science fiction-inspired landscape: dark mounds topped with white hollows, like craters atop long-dead volcanoes, and walls that fall abruptly to surrounding valleys. Hidden within the crater lie the taste buds, chemical receptors that detect the four basic tastes... (Levenson 1995)

The vast majority of taste buds are located within papillae, these are the tiny projections that give the tongue a velvety appearance. The fungi like papillae, mostly noticeable in the front area of the tongue, sometimes have no taste buds or even several. Human taste buds are onion-shaped structures of between 50 and 100 taste cells, each of which has fingerlike projections called microvilli that poke through and opening at the top of the taste bud called the taste pore.

Chemicals from food named tastants, dissolve in saliva and contact the taste cells through the taste pore. There they interact either with proteins on the surfaces of the cells known as taste receptors or with the pore like proteins call ion channels. The interactions cause electrical changes in the taste cells that trigger them to send chemical signals that ultimately result in impulses to the brain.

The electrical changes in the taste cells that prompt signals to the brain are based on the varying concentrations of charged atoms, or ions. Taste cells, like neurons, normally have a net negative charge internally and a net positive charge externally. Tastants alter this state of affairs by using various means to increase the concentration of positive ions inside the taste cells, eliminating the charge difference. Viewing the following drawing figure 1 will help visualize the tongue, taste buds and the process of tasting.

Figure 1

Salts

Such as sodium chloride (NaCI) is a vital nutrient. Salts trigger taste cells when sodium ions enter through ion channels on microvilli at the cell's top and/or side's surface. The accumulation of sodium ions causes an electrochemical change call depolarization that results in calcium (Ca++) ions entering the cell. The calcium, in turn, prompts the cell to release chemical signals called neurotransmitters from packets know as vesicles. Neurons receive the message and convey a signal to the brain,

Acids

The taste of sour we can relate to with lemons or vinegar, the taste seems to of evolved to taste and discriminate against un-ripened fruit. Acids taste sour because the generate hydrogen ions (H+) in solution. Those ions act on a taste cell in three ways: by directly entering the cell; by blocking potassium ion (K+) channels on the microvilli; and by binding to and opening channels on the microvilli that allow other positive ions to enter the cell. The resulting accumulation of positive charges depolarizes the cell and leads to neurotransmitter release.