FEB 26

11. FEB 26

Assigned Work

• Schatzker, Mark. The Dorrito Effect, C3, "Big Flavor" (41-67; 26)
• Schatzker, Mark. C4, "Big People" (67-86; 19)

In-class

• Opening small group: What industrially flavored foods are in your pantry? How do you use them in your diet?

• Italian radicchio varieties. [1], and at market [2], and cabbages and cauliflowers [3]

• Italian herbs in typical supermarket. [4]

Schatzker, Mark. The Dorrito Effect, C3, "Big Flavor" (41-67; 26)

• Spice industry story - pol unrest in Madagascar, Vanilla production drops. 42. Note on complexity of vanilla production. Traditional food methods.

• Vanillan - originally based on vanilla. Wilhelm Haarmann copies a pharmacists methods of turning pine bark resins into a vanilla substitute. Eventually, birth of synthetic flavorings business.

• 44: retronasal olfaction. Nice account of receptors. Many-to-many relationships. One trillion aromas.

• story of umami — glutamic acid. MSG.

• gastronomic diff bt vanillin and vanilla. Complexity: 100’s of compounds in real vanilla.

• Once vanillan becomes a commodity, McCormick tries to fake the complexity of real vanilla. Late ‘70s. Follow process at 47-48. McCormick scientist finds “resinous” using gas chromatography. Very cool. Parts per trillion. The mass spectrometry. “Imitation Vanilla” is born. Marianne Gillette, chemist hero of the story. (Three ounces of resinous could flavor Niagara Falls for an hour.)

• 50: great flavor migration - flavors move from foods to chemicals. growth of flavorings consumption. Fresca. Glutathione. Read des. 51. Kokumi.

• McCormick’s Technical Innovation Center - example of state of art flavor research. Note how abstract it is. “Cinnamon is the flavor equivalent of being hugged by your grandmother.” Examples of the kinds of flavoring problems the Center can solve. 54. Sizzle sauce for flagging fajita sales. Analysis includes “need states” 56. Note the flavor/emotion connection.

• Examples of fads and trends. Flavor forecast. Chipotle 2003. Would you have thought that flavors come and go like this?

• Restaurant work more like assembly now. Like putting something together from Ikea. Raises a good consumer question.

• ”natural” v “artificial”. Could be the same chemical in either case.

• 61: Growth in consumption. ‘18 .5 pounds, ‘97 3 pounds. Flavoring raw meats.

• Arguments (now not following text directly)

• Chemists’ argument - no diff. Chemicals are chemicals. Get over it.

• Industrial Gastronome (63) - finally - no more boring food. Counter arg: Traditional Gastronome —

• Traditional Gastronome - Not true that good traditional food wasn’t flavored. Just that flavoring was from other natural sources and trad methods. Industrial flavorings overwhelm our sensory system and reduce appeal of traditional flavors connected to nutrient dense foods.

• 64: Flavor dilution. Milk production. Increased prod of strawberries per acre, but lower flavor.

Schatzker, Mark. C4, "Big People" (67-86; 19)

• [As you think about this chapter, don’t just think about obesity, but consider how the same mechanisms can “bond” you to foods even if they don’t become addictions that cause overconsumption. In the best case we bond to healthy cuisines, but here we might have evidence for dependence as part of the “Dorito Effect”. ]

• Neuroimaging of exp of addicting flavors. U of O research center study — diff areas of brain activate on image of desirable food v actual food exp. “Motivation or incentive salience” v “reward”.

• Yale Food Addiction Scale — see statements on 68-69.

• Note: It’s not the case that Debbie (low BMI) and Sarah (high BMI) have diff neural responses to drinking the milkshake. Only to anticipation of it. This creates a difference in satisfaction because the food doesn’t satisfy the anticipation of it.

• Scripps Res Institute study on rats with abundant access to foods. 71. Electric shock response correlates with addiction. Second measure.

• SFS foods 73ff. (Really, salt, sugar, fat, umami, carbs). Makes the claim that we don’t crave SFS on its own. It has to be flavored. Problem isn’t so much “junk food” as industrially flavored foods that increase SFS consumption.

• 76: food addiction not just about intensity, but availability (think sodas machines everywhere and candy at the Old Navy check out lane).

• 78Comparison to food animal weight gain —- concentrates, palatants, calorie dense. The same weight inducing techniques are used on both food animals and human food consumers. It’s as if the industrial system is designed to produce overweight conditions.