We often use the expression ‘I can’t taste a thing’ when we have a cold; this one short phrase says a lot about our perception of flavour and the fact that we credit our mouth with all the glory. But even when one looks at a traditional definition of flavour (by traditional I am excluding contributing factors such as sight, texture, sound, perception etc.) we find that it is not only comprised of our sense of taste (which is centralised in the mouth and throat) but also our sense of smell (olfactory system). Only when these two senses are working together can we perceive flavours. The question now is whether one is more important that the other.

Scientists estimate that up to 90% of what we perceive as flavour is actually derived from our sense of smell. That may seem like a disproportionate amount but let’s put it in context: when you have a blocked nose on account of hay fever or a cold, foods tend to lose their flavour, although we say we can’t ‘taste’ our food, we can in fact taste saltiness, sweetness, sourness etc. It is, in fact, our lack of ability to detect aromas which renders the food so bland. In my previous article, I talked about the poor flavour of airplane food which is mostly caused by our sinuses becoming dry which inhibits our ability to detect aromas which in turn leads to us feeling that the food is lacking in flavour.

To illustrate this point, Professor Barry Smith (founder of the Centre for the Study of the Senses) has devised a simple test: put a random selection of jelly beans into a jar, close your eyes (so as not to be alerted by the colour cues) and pinch your nose tight so there is no air getting in or out, then pop a jelly bean into your mouth and begin to chew. Most likely you will detect sweetness and perhaps acidity, but can you tell what flavour the bean is? Before swallowing, release your nose, take a breath and all of a sudden the flavour comes rushing in.

Your tongue can detect a handful of tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami, oleogustus (fatty) and metallic along with a few other prospects. Our olfactory system, on the other hand, is capable of detecting up to 1 trillion distinct aromas, hence we can perceive differences in flavour between, say, an orange and a tangerine which ‘taste’ pretty similar – sweet, slightly sour and perhaps even slightly bitter – because of differences in the aromas.

What’s even more interesting is that we have two ways of perceiving aromas called orthonasal smell perception (when we detect external aromas) and retronasal smell perception which occurs during food ingestion as volatile molecules released from food are pumped by movements of the mouth from the back of the oral cavity up through the back of the nose. How do these differ from one another? Well as soon as food hits your palate, saliva does its bit to alter the chemical structure of the molecules which results in a different aroma being perceived retronasally. Hence that pungent French cheese you love may not smell so great on the board but once it is in your mouth the flavour (which is up to 90% aroma) is wonderful.

Given that aroma is so vital to flavour, during our multi-sensory dinners, we focus on making sure that guests actively trigger their sense of smell just before or during the eating of a dish by adding external aroma elements which encourage them to start actively detecting a particular aroma which matches with or is part of the dish. So finally, I’d like to discuss a couple of ways in which we at Kitchen Theory use this knowledge when designing our dishes and hopefully this will inspire you to create your own sensory gastronomic masterpieces at home.

So here you have inspiring, practical ways of enhancing the scent element of dishes. Do try them out – not only will the food taste better but your guests will definitely get a kick out of the interactivity of atomisers or spectacle of dry ice smoke clouds!