http://www.flavourjournal.com The latest research articles published by Flavour 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z Not only do eating and drinking provide the energy and nutrients we require to sustain life; they are also a great source of pleasure. The consumption of food is typically a multimodal experience, with the term flavour used to describe the holistic sensory experience we have during eating. At its most basic, it captures the joint sensations of taste and olfaction. However, in a wider sense, flavour covers all sensory experiences related to food intake, both chemical (such as smell, taste, chemical irritation and pain) and nonchemical (for example, the temperature, mouth feel, the visual appearance of the food and the sounds it makes when we eat it). Despite decades of research in these areas, we are only just beginning to understand the mechanisms that underlie these senses and the integration of their signals. Perhaps one of the first lessons learnt is that complex interactions between the senses are at play, with flavour not simply being the sum of its sensorial parts.Two disciplines and associated sets of technologies are now making significant contributions to flavour research. Neuroscience, with its new noninvasive methods of investigating responses and interactions in the brain, is being bought to bear on questions of sensory integration and hedonics. In addition, genetics, with the availability of many human genome sequences and rapid methods for assessing genetic variation and identifying genes involved in sensory perception, can now contribute to questions of mechanism and differences among individuals in flavour experience.This special issue covers neural processing and the genetic foundations of flavour perception. We welcome contributions, original research papers and integrative reviews and papers describing innovative research methods, from systems and cognitive neuroscience, neurobiology, genetics, medicine, psychology and related disciplines. http://www.flavourjournal.com/content/2/1/17 Richard Newcomb Kathrin Ohla Flavour 2013, null:17 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2044-7248-2-17 The genetics and neuroscience of flavour <p>This new article collection explores how the fields of genetics and neuroscience are beginning to impact on our understanding of flavour experience, how it is produced and what underpins individual differences.</p> /content/figures/2044-7248-2-17-toc.gif Flavour 2044-7248 ${item.volume} 17 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z XML In this article, we highlight some of the various ways in which digital technologies may increasingly come to influence, and possibly even transform, our fine dining experiences (not to mention our everyday interactions with food and drink) in the years to come. We distinguish between several uses of technology in this regard: For example, to enhance the taste/flavour of food; to provide entertainment and/or to deliver more memorable experiences around food and drink; not to mention helping those who want to eat more healthily. We outline the different routes by which digital technology may arrive at the table (and in some cases already has): on the one hand, technology may be provided by the restaurants or bars for their diners’/patrons’ benefit; on the other, it may be brought to the table by the diners themselves (most likely via their own handheld portable electronic devices). While many of the former technological innovations will no doubt first make their appearance at the tables of cutting edge high-end restaurants, the most successful of them will likely be appearing at the home dining table within a couple of years. Like it or not, then, digital technologies will constitute an increasingly common feature of the dining table of the future. http://www.flavourjournal.com/content/2/1/16 Charles Spence Betina Piqueras-Fiszman Flavour 2013, null:16 2013-03-11T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2044-7248-2-16 /content/figures/2044-7248-2-16-toc.gif Flavour 2044-7248 ${item.volume} 16 2013-03-11T00:00:00Z XML Book detailsHeather PaxsonThe Life of Cheese: Crafting Food and Value in AmericaBerkeley, University of California Press; 2012283 pagesISBN: 9780520270183Book details http://www.flavourjournal.com/content/2/1/15 Jon Holtzman Flavour 2013, null:15 2013-03-04T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2044-7248-2-15 /content/figures/2044-7248-2-15-toc.gif Flavour 2044-7248 ${item.volume} 15 2013-03-04T00:00:00Z XML The last few years have seen a rapid growth of research interest in the study of the role of touch and oral-somatosensation in the experience of eating and drinking. The various ways in which the sense of touch can be used to enhance the diner’s/consumer’s experience in both everyday eating and drinking, as well as in the context of experiential dining, is also gaining ever more attention from professionals in a variety of disciplines. In this review, we highlight the importance that everything that we perceive via the sense of touch, from the weight of the menu to the feel of the tablecloth, tableware, cutlery, and even the food itself, has on our eating experience and food and beverage-related behaviors. Everything we feel, be it the weight, the temperature, or the texture of whatever we happen to come across while eating appears to matter. In addition, we also highlight the relevance of oral-somatosensory cues to our sensory and hedonic perception of foods. A number of examples are given to demonstrate some of the many ways in which chefs, designers, and artists are now exploiting these findings in order to change and, hopefully, to enhance the diner’s eating experience in innovative ways. http://www.flavourjournal.com/content/2/1/14 Charles Spence Caroline Hobkinson Alberto Gallace Betina Fiszman Flavour 2013, null:14 2013-02-19T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2044-7248-2-14 /content/figures/2044-7248-2-14-toc.gif Flavour 2044-7248 ${item.volume} 14 2013-02-19T00:00:00Z XML Harold McGee, author of best-selling book, On Food And Cooking, talks to Flavour about minerality, academia and molecular gastronomy. http://www.flavourjournal.com/content/2/1/13 Harold McGee Flavour 2013, null:13 2013-02-04T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2044-7248-2-13 Q&A: Harold McGee, the curious cook /content/figures/2044-7248-2-13-toc.gif Flavour 2044-7248 ${item.volume} 13 2013-02-04T00:00:00Z XML The common feature of the large variety of raw and cooked foods is that they are multi-component materials that consist at least of proteins, carbohydrates, fat and water. These basic classes of molecules define most of the structural and textural properties of the foods cooked and processed in the kitchen. Given the different solubility of these components in the basic solvents, water and fat, it becomes clear that many physical properties, such as structure and texture are determined by a large number of competing interactions between these different components. http://www.flavourjournal.com/content/2/1/12 Thomas Vilgis Flavour 2013, null:12 2013-01-09T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2044-7248-2-12 /content/figures/2044-7248-2-12-toc.gif Flavour 2044-7248 ${item.volume} 12 2013-01-09T00:00:00Z XML Integration of physics with gastronomy can yield innovations in an efficient manner. An important element of this integration is the structure of food. The creation of food recipes often deals with designing new structures and a clear understanding of how food structure influences food properties is necessary. The physics that is required for this understanding can be demonstrated by considering the case of gelatin. A Master of Science (MSc) specialization is described, which addresses the integration of physics with gastronomy in an educational setting at Wageningen University, The Netherlands. http://www.flavourjournal.com/content/2/1/11 Erik van der Linden Flavour 2013, null:11 2013-01-09T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2044-7248-2-11 /content/figures/2044-7248-2-11-toc.gif Flavour 2044-7248 ${item.volume} 11 2013-01-09T00:00:00Z XML Creative, inquiry-driven approaches in science education help to address the growing need to effectively engage students and promote the public understanding of science. Here we describe an interactive format using food that can be applied both in a course for undergraduate students, as well as in a lecture for the general public. Communicating science through food may also dispel fear of naturally occurring chemicals as well as scientific misconceptions that are propagated by the media. http://www.flavourjournal.com/content/2/1/10 Amy Rowat Flavour 2013, null:10 2013-01-09T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2044-7248-2-10 /content/figures/2044-7248-2-10-toc.gif Flavour 2044-7248 ${item.volume} 10 2013-01-09T00:00:00Z XML The term ‘gastrophysics’ has been proposed to describe an emerging scientific discipline that employs an arsenal of the most powerful theoretical, simulational, and experimental techniques from the physical sciences to study the empirical world of cooking and gastronomy. In the same way that biology has inspired the field of biophysics, gastronomy is the source of inspiration for gastrophysics. In particular, gastrophysics aims at exploiting recent advances in the physical sciences to forward the scientific study of food, the raw materials used, the effects of processing food, and quantitative aspects of the physical basis for food quality, flavor, appreciation, and absorption in the human body. In this study, we focused on questions pertaining to the texture and flavor of a particular type of raw material, namely, the red seaweed, dulse (Palmaria palmata), and demonstrate how a combination of physical chemistry, biophotonics, and atomic-scale molecular simulation might shed some light on these questions, particularly in relation to the physical mechanism of the umami sensation. http://www.flavourjournal.com/content/2/1/9 Ole Mouritsen Lars Duelund Luis Bagatolli Himanshu Khandelia Flavour 2013, null:9 2013-01-09T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2044-7248-2-9 /content/figures/2044-7248-2-9-toc.gif Flavour 2044-7248 ${item.volume} 9 2013-01-09T00:00:00Z XML In this short paper, a few important problems are highlighted that fall naturally within the emerging science of gastrophysics. This paper does not discuss how ‘gastrophysics’ is similar to or different from ‘neurogastronomy’ or ‘molecular gastronomy’; but just notes that the time seems ripe for problems within these areas, as witnessed by the recent proposals of these as separate ‘emergent’ scientific fields centered at problems not covered by other traditional scientific disciplines. http://www.flavourjournal.com/content/2/1/8 Per Møller Flavour 2013, null:8 2013-01-09T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/2044-7248-2-8 /content/figures/2044-7248-2-8-toc.gif Flavour 2044-7248 ${item.volume} 8 2013-01-09T00:00:00Z XML