Pairing flavours and the temporal order of tasting

There can be little doubt that plating food beautifully is becoming ever more important in the world of high-end cuisine. However, there is a very real danger that all the attention to how a dish looks (or photographs) can end up obscuring the importance of temporal order to flavour perception. That is, there is an increasing tendency to prioritize plating elements in a dish so that they please the eyes of the beholder, rather than necessarily because they deliver the optimum balance of sensations to the palate. Relevant here is the fact that certain combinations of ingredients taste better when sampled simultaneously, or in a particular sequence, than when sampled in a different order. In this review, we examine the importance of sequencing and pairing taste/flavour sensations, both in the design of the meal itself, and when attempting to combine (or match) food and drink. We address the chemical, psychological, and computational strategies that have been suggested by those wishing to combine flavours for maximal impact. We evaluate three general principles of flavour matching: similarity - matching components based on common flavour compounds (or similar flavour profiles); contrast - combinations that are purposely chosen because they differ from each other (a strategy that is more common in the cuisine of some countries than others), and synergy (or emergence) – those combinations that together deliver new flavour experiences, or else harmonize with one another. We argue that the psychological account (informed by an awareness of cultural differences), and to a lesser extent the chemical account, provide meaningful suggestions as far as effectively combining flavours is concerned

Sensory Analysis and Consumer Research in New Product Development

Sensory analysis and consumer research are relevant tools in innovation andnew product development, from design to commercialization. This Special Issuehas collected 13 valuable scientific contributions, including 1 review, 12 originalresearch articles and an editorial. The SI provides an interesting outlookand better understanding of sensorial analysis with the different techniques andconsumer research on new product development. Important practical applicationshave been reported on the development of different novel, functional andenhanced products (meat, fish, biscuits, yogurt, porridge, hybrid meat, molecularproducts, etc.), which helps increase knowledge in this field. This SI isvery useful for both present and future uses for the different players involved inthis kind of product development (industry, companies, researchers, scientists,marketing, merchandising, consumers, etc.)

Explaining visual shape–taste crossmodal correspondences

A growing body of experimental research now demonstrates that neurologically normal individuals associate different taste qualities with design features such as curvature, symmetry, orientation, texture and movement. The form of everything from the food itself through to the curvature of the plateware on which it happens to be served, and from glassware to typeface, not to mention the shapes of/on food product packaging have all been shown to influence people’s taste expectations, and, on occasion, also their taste/food experiences. Although the origins of shape–taste and other form–taste crossmodal correspondences have yet to be fully worked out, it would appear that shape qualities are occasionally elicited directly. However, more often, there may be a metaphorical attempt to translate the temporal qualities of taste sensations into a spatial analogue. At the same time, emotional mediation may sometimes also play a role in the affinity people experience between shape properties and taste. And finally, it should be acknowledged that associative learning of the relation between packaging shapes, glassware shapes, logos, labels and iconic food forms that commonly co-occur with specific taste properties (i.e., in the case of branded food products) may also play an important role in determining the nature of shape–taste correspondences. Ultimately, however, any attempt to use such shape–taste correspondences to nudge people’s behaviour/perception in the real world is made challenging due to the fact that shape properties are associated with multiple qualities, and not just taste

Healthy Deliciousness': Discovering the Secret to Healthy Eating via Social Media.

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2018

Strategies to reduce the sugar content of dairy products targeted at children

Children’s sugar intake has raised concern worldwide as it exceeds nutritional recommendations. Although sugars are naturally present in food, sugars added to foods during industrial processing are currently the main source of sugar in children's diets. In particular, dairy products, which are generally recommended to be part of children diets, have drawn attention due to their high content of sugar. In this context, the main objective of this thesis was to explore different sugar reduction strategies in dairy products targeted at children. Results showed that sugar reduction of dairy products targeted at children available in the Uruguayan marketplace is possible. A direct sugar reduction up to 25% did not have a significant impact on children hedonic perception in three dairy products. Meanwhile the use of taste-odor-texture cross-modal interactions allowed to minimize the impact of sugar reduction on the sensory characteristics of dairy desserts. Co-creation with children was identified as a feasible approach to develop innovative healthy dairy products with high acceptance among children. Finally, package information influenced parent’s healthiness perception and choice of snacks for their children, stressing that packaging regulations should play a key role as part of the comprehensive set of strategies that should be implemented to reduce children's sugar intake. Overall, results from this work provide useful insights to food scientists for the development of sugar reduced products targeted at children, as well as valuable information for policy makers to design programs to reduce children’s sugar intake at population level

Competitiveness and internationalization of a Portuguese SME in the cheese market - marketing mix and budget

S4, an experienced Portuguese cheese company leader in the domestic fresh segment, aims to expand and consolidate its business internationally. By screening several countries based on macro and industry-specific indicators and conducting an in-depth analysis of the four most promising ones, United States and Germany resulted to be the most attractive markets for S4’s internationalization. Following, the most suitable entry mode was defined as well as the ideal business model and marketing plan to effectively run a business in both countries. Financial projections and risk evaluations were performed to assess the viability of the proposed international plan

On the Legal Consequences of Sauces: Should Thomas Keller\u27s Recipes Be Per Se Copyrightable?

The restaurant industry now takes in over $500 billion a year, but recent courts have been skeptical of the notion that one of its most valuable assets, original recipes, are subject to copyright protection. With more litigation looming and the contours of the debate insufficiently mapped out, this article establishes the appropriate groundwork for analyzing the copyrightability of recipes. I show that, contrary to recent appellate court opinions, recipes meet the statutory requirements for copyrightability. I argue, by analogizing to musical compositions, that written recipes work to satisfy the fixation requirement of copyright law just as musical notation does for compositions. Accordingly, the dish is the final work of authorship, the recipe is the fixation medium, and the various cooking techniques - braising, grilling, sous vide - are the potentially patentable processes. In order to meet copyright law\u27s requirement of originality, though, the work must be deemed expressive. To determine whether and how recipes are expressive, I interviewed some of America\u27s best chefs, each of whom claimed to use recipes to express various ideas and emotions. Since there are no doctrinal limitations to recipes\u27 copyrightability, in Part II, I offer reasons for the late recognition as protectable works. First, I consider the marginalized status of the sense of taste in the history of Western aesthetic philosophy. For many philosophers, only objects that presented themselves to the eyes and ears, such as music, painting, and literature, could be truly beautiful. Partly out of the fear that fancy foods can lead to gluttony, Western, and more specifically Anglo-American writers have often tried to limit cuisine to its fundamentally nutritive components, further isolating it from the realm of creative expression. Furthermore, the producers of cuisine have been treated no better than their products. Throughout history cooking has been the province of lowly household servants and housewives, with only a select few chefs rising to the status of artisan. Chefs rose from the ranks of obscurity far more slowly than did writers, painters, and musicians. Finally, chefs have a long history of directly copying recipes and dishes from their predecessors, suggesting that the norms of Romantic original authorship formed much later in cuisine than in other arts. In Part III, I return to the law to consider whether the copyright monopoly should be extended to culinary creations. Chefs are not likely to take serious advantage of copyrights, as the time and money necessary for suit would rarely be worth the benefit. The chefs I interviewed were uncomfortable with the idea of owning their recipes, and they all approved of others using their recipes, subject to certain limits. Increased innovation is also unlikely as a more robust intellectual property regime would likely inhibit chefs\u27 willingness to experiment with other chefs\u27 dishes. Furthermore, the public domain would not see any meaningful increase, because few chefs who currently keep their recipes secret will be persuaded to publish them to obtain the limited benefits of copyright. The article concludes by arguing that formal copyright protection is not necessary for culinary creation, because a vibrant system of social norms already exists to sanction plagiarism, encourage attribution, and reward innovation. Thus, although recipes meet the formal doctrinal requirements of copyright law, an extension of the monopoly is neither necessary nor appropriate at this time