The Future of Food

Differing fields of expertise, provided a glimpse into the world of saké, food and flavour at New Frontiers in Taste.

01/07/05 At the beginning of June, two world-renowned chefs, a scientist, a food writer and three saké experts, gathered together to explore the science of taste.  As part of the Cheltenham Festival of Science, New Frontiers of Taste was a unique event introducing molecular gastronomy and our fifth taste sensation - umami. Umami is term coined by a Japanese scientist almost 100 years ago, to describe the distinctive taste of the amino acid glutamate.  The receptors which enable us to taste umami were identified as recently as 2002.

Led by Kathy Sykes (Professor at the University of Bristol and part of the BBC Rough Science Team), panellists included Heston Blumenthal owner and chef of the three Michelin star Fat Duck, Edmund Rolls Professor of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, Stefan Gates gastronaut and food writer, Ichiro Kubota chef at London's Umu restaurant and a team of sommeliers - experts in saké and food pairing.

Differing fields of expertise, provided a glimpse into the world of saké, food and flavour.  With in-depth knowledge of the science of taste, Professor Rolls explained how our bodies, and in particular our brains perceive different tastes and pleasure.  Stefan Gates summarised food myths, presenting results from a recent consumer survey, highlighting unusual responses to food.  He then discussed how Wotsits are, in his opinion, the epitome of umami, with their "MSG, their cheese flavouring and their sodium hit".  Inviting the audience to try a bag themselves, Stefan proposed that 'wotsitiness' be used as an alternative to the word 'umami'.  Chef, Ichiro Kubota, gave a short master class on Kyoto cuisine and the importance of umami in his cooking and Isaké, a team of saké specialists, highlighted the importance of science when creating the perfect food and saké pairing.  As the discussion progressed it became clear that umami is a universal taste and not a taste that is confined to Japan.

An evening that discussed the science of food was appropriately concluded by the master of molecular gastronomy - Heston Blumenthal.  Providing a glimpse into the future of food, Heston predicted, "in a few years time you'll be able to go into a hotel room, and press a button and change the colour of the room, or the smell, to suit your mood."  According to Heston, the future will involve 'multi-sensory stimulation'.  He described recent research into contextual eating, pointing out how food eaten on holiday never tastes the same when consumed back home.  This leads to the idea that it's not just the taste of food which influences the pleasure we gain from it - it is important to take into account the factors that influence all our senses at a certain moment in time.  In the future, Heston considered, it may be possible to create meals that not only stimulate our sense of taste, but also our other senses, thereby creating an even more pleasurable dining experience.

www.glutamate.org