QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
Why We Talk About Food When I
t’s a great experience to have a single taste of a favorite food bring us back to another time and place. For writer and
historian Nadia Berenstein, such phenome- na are a life’s work. She has a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in history and sociology of science with a concentration on fl avor. The James Beard award-winning writer writes and speaks on fl avor—natural and synthetic—and what it means to lives, economies, cultures, and societies for outlets including Vice, Food & Wine, and NPR. Her blog, Flavor Added, has examinations of food lore and science from “space food” to celery. We talked about fl avor, memory, and how to create memorable moments in dining.
Q. Are there real diff erences in the fl avors of the past from those of today, or is that a trick of memory? A. How often have you heard someone say, the apples they sell these days don’t taste like the ones I grew up with, or the corn or tomatoes tasted so much sweeter? One of the things that I was surprised to discov- er, when I was doing my research into the history American fl avors and fl avor science and technology, is how long this feeling has been happening. This kind of wistful look back to the flavors of the past has been happening from as early as the late 19th century. People were already lamenting that food didn’t taste as good as it used to. So sometimes this might be more akin to a common human condition instead of a change in how things taste.
Q. But there are diff erent foods—it seems like there are diff erent fl avors of chips or sauces every time I go to the store.
30 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE MARCH/APRIL 2020
A. We are entering this moment of really rapid expansion in food and beverage prod- ucts and tremendous and radical change in the food system. You’re likely to see fl avors featured in beverages, yogurt, chips or crackers, that you may never have seen be- fore. Spice blends from North Africa or East Asia, turmeric as a common ingredient, plus plant-based meat and nondairy cheeses. It’s a really exciting time to try new things, but it can be disconcerting. At the same time, there’s kind of a kind
of turn back toward the familiar, the home- made fl avor. Ferminich (a global fl avor and fragrance company) picks a fl avor of the year, and for 2020, it’s “classic blueberry.” They explained that people are hungry for some- thing familiar…they’re craving authenticity.
Q. Are there any great lost fl avors, ones people just can’t get anymore? A. One example that I can think of that is root beer. Some people say may remember root beer tasting diff erently in the 1940s and ‘50s. It used to be made with sassafras, whose taste comes from a particular mole- cule called safrole. There were studies that it might cause liver damage in rats, so it was removed from the food system. They tried to get that fl avor by other means, but one man I talked to said it just never tasted the same to him again.
Q. I was interested in what you wrote about mindful eating and fl avor’s role in that. A. A lot of foodies have a whole ritual around tasting but being mindful isn’t just for luxury dishes. I like to think of all the foods that we eat as having interesting sen- sory qualities that derive from deliberate choices and skilled labor.
Nadia
Berenstein, PhD Writer and historian
We Eat, and Other Mysteries Explained By Sara Wildberger
Thought Leader Profi le
When you start paying attention to the
fl avors of, maybe, sour cream and onion potato chips—really paying attention—you start seeing this kind of orchestration of taste, when the saltiness comes in, when the tang of the sour cream fl avor makes itself known…it’s almost an unfolding process. One of the results is you’ll probably end up eating fewer potato chips and enjoying them more.
Another thing I’ve learned from studying the science is the importance of eating as a social interaction. A lot of how we develop our appreciation for fl avor and our ability to recognize diff erent tastes is by talking about what we taste with other people. Even though the experience of eating
is very personal and subjective, eating to- gether and discussing the food can make a difference in what it tastes like. More important, talking helps you taste what it reminds you of, how you can sense a larger life history that has formed the pattern and the backdrop for your sense of taste—for the things that you love and the things that you appreciate, and the things that you won't eat at all.
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