WEBVTT - Is Flavor Really All In Your Brain? 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.160 Guess what will what's that? Man? Go? So I was 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:05.480 watching this old BBC clip online of an electronic lollipop. 0:00:05.680 --> 0:00:08.680 What is that? So it's not actually a candy. The 0:00:08.720 --> 0:00:11.640 lollipop is still being developed in labs, but it's this 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.640 gentle plant that slides metal plates over the top and 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:16.959 bodiy tongue. I don't think it helps to call this 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:20.599 clamp gentle. That still doesn't sound that appealing. Well, here's 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:23.400 what's cool about it. So it sends currents through your 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:25.919 tongue and adjust the temperature on those plates, and the 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:29.040 electronic lollipop can actually trick your tongue into thinking it's 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:32.480 tasting a wide variety of flavors, like a lemony sour 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:35.120 taste is the easiest to pull off, and scientists can 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:39.000 do reasonable approximations of other flavors. But the application of 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:42.120 all this is really cool. Like imagine you're watching Iron 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:44.280 Chef and Bobby Flays on there and he's just made 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:47.760 the most amazing eggplant spaghetti taco in the world, and 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:49.600 you can't figure out for the life of you what 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.720 an eggplant plus spaghetti and a taco shell should taste like, 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:55.000 And so you just take a lick of your lollipop 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:57.320 and suddenly you get a sense of that flavor. Wow. 0:00:57.320 --> 0:00:58.960 I mean, that's kind of weird, but it is. It 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:00.800 is pretty cool. It minds me a little bit of 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:04.200 smell vision, except for your taste, but exactly. And you 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:06.800 can see how this might be used in online grocery 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:09.720 shopping in the future or checking out new recipes. It's 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:12.760 totally fascinating. But what I found most interesting in all 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:15.680 of this are the limitations. Because these currents are only 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:17.920 playing with your tongue, they can only create a set 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:21.160 of basic flavors. But when the scientists added technology that 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:25.240 incorporates your nose, suddenly the range of flavors expanded dramatically, 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:27.880 and that got me thinking what other tricks can we 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:30.080 play on our tongue and how much a flavor is 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:32.920 really just something constructed in our brain. So that's what 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:51.680 this episode is all about. Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.080 to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:56.520 I'm joined by my good friend Man Guesho Ticketer, and 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:58.920 today I'm here to address a big problem in the 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:02.360 English language. I'm pretty sure you're talking about starting sentences 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:05.160 with because because my second grade English teacher had the 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:07.640 same argument with me. Wait, this was second grade. You 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:09.919 get in trouble in second grade for starting sentences with 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:12.160 because yeah, actually it was more of a thing that 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:14.520 she said we shouldn't do. And then I started every 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:17.040 sentence in a story with the word because it was 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:20.080 not a good strategy for going to recess that. Right. Well, 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.720 at some point we'll do a whole episode on grammar, 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:24.760 so you can save your SOB stories for them. But 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.200 today I'm talking about how English speakers use the words 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:32.560 taste and flavor interchangeably, as though they mean the same thing. Wait, 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:34.760 they don't mean the same thing. I know, it's pretty crazy. 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:37.320 So I've been reading this new book called Flavor. It's 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.880 by Bob Holmes, and it's really good. As Holmes explains, 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:44.280 taste is just one component of flavor, and he writes, 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:46.520 the best way to think about flavor is that it's 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:48.960 the sum of all the sensations we get when we 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:51.280 have food in the mouth. So think about the weight 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:53.480 of the bowl, the color of the plate, the crunch 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:56.520 of the potato chip. Even the choice of background music 0:02:56.520 --> 0:02:59.440 can have a direct effect on how we perceive flavor. 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:02.079 That funny, because when I think of flavor, it seems 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:06.000 like such a specific thing, like popcorn flavor, jelly beans, 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:08.320 that's a flavor. I think there might be some people 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:10.680 who disagree with you on this, but but I know 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:13.680 what you're saying is true. Like taste and smell and 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:15.840 touch and sound, they all play a role in how 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:18.320 much we appreciate food. I guess I've just been using 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:20.519 the wrong vocabulary. All right, Well, I'm not here to 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.280 flavor sham you, but we do have Bob Homes on 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:25.200 the show today, which is super exciting, and we'll be 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:28.239 talking to him about flavor and some of the fascinating 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:31.440 studies and facts he covered in his book. Speaking of which, 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:33.760 do you have a terrible quiz lined up for us today? 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:36.440 Of course I do. Sticking with the flavors theme, we're 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.920 playing real vintage recipe or gourmet cat food flavor. It's 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:43.240 a little harder than you think. Awesome, all right, all right, well, 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:45.840 let's kick this off by talking about taste. Even if 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:48.920 it's not the same thing as flavor, it's obviously an 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:52.600 important thing, definitely so. In the English speaking world, psychologists 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:57.240 have traditionally acknowledged four different tastes. They're sweet, sour, salty, 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:00.360 and bitter, and humans have different receptors for each these. 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:03.320 And then more recently, we've added a fifth taste, ou mommy, 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:05.520 which kind of just sounds made up, so we need 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:08.080 to talk about that. Yeah, it did feel like a 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:10.600 few years ago people started talking about ummmy and it 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:12.720 was like breaking news, like did you hear about this 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:15.880 umami flavor? And actually, to be honest, I got confused. 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:18.200 I was mixing it up with the word unagi, which 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:22.760 is the Japanese word for freshwater eel, so so I 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:24.920 was trying to understand why eel got to be a 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:26.960 flavor of its own. I mean, don't get me wrong, 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:29.560 I love eel, but it was still a little confusing. Yeah, 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:31.480 it was confusing to meet because I thought we were 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:34.440 getting a brand new flavor, like you know that apartment 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:36.520 you have, did you know it's been hiding a secret 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:39.200 room all this time? Or like you're familiar with the rainbow, 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:42.400 guess what we're adding a new color, And instead it 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.400 was like, you know, parmesan cheese or soy sauce, those 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:47.720 are your mommy. You just didn't have a word for it, right, 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:51.360 But umami is definitely distinct. Yeah, It's a Japanese word 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:55.800 meaning delicious flavor and linguists usually translated as savory or 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:58.520 maybe meaty, and his Homes explains there are a few 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:00.280 reasons why it takes a while to rack your head 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:03.680 around what U mommy is. First, is that, unlike other tastes, 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:07.479 you don't really experience mummy as this isolated thing. Think 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:09.600 about it. You can bite into a strawberry and immediately 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:12.880 experience that as sweet, or lick a French fry and no, 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:15.800 that's kind of a salty taste. I think we've talked 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.360 about this. You've got to stop licking your French fry. 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:22.799 That's a little weird. They're just so good though, But anyway, 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:24.960 you can experience those tastes in a pretty pure and 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:27.960 direct form With OU mommy, it's more in combination with 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:31.280 other things. Taste researcher Paul Breslin also points out that 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:34.040 the receptors for OU mommy have a pretty low maximum 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:37.560 intensity compared to other taste which prevents us from being 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:40.760 able to note something is being very umami, unlike how 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:43.360 we might say something is very sweet or very salty. Yeah, 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:46.000 and there's a much stronger cultural element than I realized. 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:48.600 I mean, I know the stereotypes of different cultures being 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:51.480 able to handle different levels of spice or things like that, 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:53.880 but I really didn't think about how that could be applied. 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:56.440 There's something like ou mommy. But it turns out many 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:59.520 people in Asian countries have no problem identifying things as 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:02.360 z mom, but they have the same ease that American 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:06.000 children have identifying things as sweet. It's really interesting how 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:09.839 taste has developed differently in different places around the world. Well, 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:12.080 let's back up for a minute talk about how these 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.320 tastes would have developed from an evolutionary perspective. Yeah, it's 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:17.320 one thing for us to identify or talk about these 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:19.839 tastes when we cook at home or eat at restaurants now, 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:22.839 but for our ancestors, these tastes were key to survival. 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:25.040 So think about how a sweet taste would have let 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:27.240 someone know that they were getting sugars, which are an 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:30.440 important way to get calories for energy, or Tasting salt 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.320 would be an indication of electrolytes, and a mommy would 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.880 have indicated the presence of proteins. Now, on the negative side, 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.520 our ancestors learned from bitter taste that something might be 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:42.160 toxic or from sourness that a fruit might have gone 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.600 bad or just not be good to eat. Yeah, it's 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.920 not hard to see how we'd be hardwired to like sweet, salty, 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:50.839 and mommy. And it's equally fascinating to see how other 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:54.919 animals have evolved differently because of their different nutritional needs. 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:59.400 Like there was a cat study. Oh great is back? 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:02.960 Well a study was done that showed cats, because their 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:06.400 carnivores are unable to really identify sweetness and it has 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.320 no appeal for them, and pandas, who are some serious 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:12.320 bamboo eaters, don't really need to identify you mommy, so 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:14.600 they've lost the ability to taste it well. And even 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:17.520 more extreme than that, vampire bats love of blood has 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:19.840 caused them to lose the ability to taste ou mommy, 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:23.080 sweet and bitter. I'm actually curious why we don't do 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:28.160 a bad studies like we do cats studies. Have I 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:30.720 mentioned I don't like cats. I think you've mentioned that 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:32.720 a few times, alright, just wanted to make sure. So 0:07:32.800 --> 0:07:35.840 back to how we've evolved, there's another thing about taste 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.320 that I think is just crazy interesting. So just as 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.480 we're discussing how flavor is much more than just taste. 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:44.480 Taste also happens to be more complex than we thought. 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:47.160 Did you know that there are taste receptors in multiple 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:50.400 places around our body, not just our mouth. Sure, it's crazy, 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:52.520 isn't it. Wait, so that means you do know about this. 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:56.000 I'm gonna quiz you, So, do we have taste receptors 0:07:56.000 --> 0:08:00.480 in our lungs? What about our guts? What about our brains? 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:04.360 What about our for No, we don't. We do not 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:07.920 have taste receptors in our forehead, you slum dogmillionaire, You 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:10.640 should know better. There's no cheating on our quizzes. So 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:14.200 this isn't exactly well understood yet, but it's really fascinating. 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:17.200 The ones in the gut, for example, detected mommy and sweet, 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:20.000 and let our brains know that some yummy and nutritious 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:22.840 food has arrived, and if they taste something bitter, they 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:25.120 let us know there may be a problem and trigger 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:27.800 response of some kind. So you can get the sense 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:30.080 for why they're helpful. But why do you think we 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:33.480 need taste receptors in our respiratory system? So it's one 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:36.400 way of letting our bodies know if bacteria has arrived, 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:39.720 Because bacteria have a communication chemical with a bitter taste, 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.520 and when the receptors in our respiratory system notice this, 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:45.880 they help our bodies mount a response. There's even some 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:48.880 thinking among scientists that these bitter receptors may have existed 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:51.360 in other areas of our body, first as a way 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:54.360 of detecting infection and then moving to our mouths. As 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:57.320 Holmes explains, if this is the case, we have disease 0:08:57.400 --> 0:08:59.880 to thank for the flavor of coffee, beer, and brocc 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:02.319 It's weird, right, all right? So I know in a 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:04.199 few minutes we're going to play a quiz, but before 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:05.959 we do that, I think we should find out whether 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:09.760 we're super tasters super tastes. Well, it's not as exciting 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:12.360 as it sounds, because while it does mean someone has 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:15.319 a more intense sense of taste, supertasters tend to be 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:18.440 much more bland eaters because most tastes tend to be 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:21.040 that much more extreme for them. Well, given the fact 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:23.480 that the last time we ate at the Chinese place downstairs, 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:25.360 it looked to me like you just ordered a plate 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:29.520 of hot peppers, So I'm guessing you're not a supertaster. Yeah, 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:31.120 we had a joke in our family that our dad 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:33.800 served as so much spicy food that we burned off 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:37.400 our taste butts. Let me show you how we test 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:40.200 for this using this filter paper. Each strip has a 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:42.800 small amount of a bitter compound on them. It's called 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:46.640 prople thi osal or p r o P. So we're 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:48.640 going to put these on our tongues and find out 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.080 which of these three categories of tasters we fall in. 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.600 Non tasters will taste nothing, tasters will notice the bitter 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:57.240 taste but it's not a huge deal, and supertaste will 0:09:57.240 --> 0:10:00.520 have the super strong response to it. All I like this. 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:02.400 We should also get some other members of the PTG 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:07.760 team in here. What are you say? Yeah? Definitely all right, 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:09.560 So let's give this a shot. So we've got two 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:11.880 of our team members joining us. We've got Noel Brown, 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:13.880 you may know from stuff they don't want you to know, 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:17.560 also a supervising producer on the show, and Jerry Rowland, 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:20.400 our executive producer. Here. Guys, you guys ready to give 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:23.679 this a shot? Boy? Am I ever? Okay? All right? 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:25.760 So we've all got these strips and on the count 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:27.400 of three, we're gonna put them on our tongues and 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:29.720 we're gonna see what happens now. As a reminder, if 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:32.360 you taste nothing, which may be the case, you're a 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.120 non taster. If you taste a little bit of bitter, 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:38.120 just some bitter, then you're a taster. And if it 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:42.199 tastes extremely better than you are a super taster. So ready, 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:44.839 all right on the count of three, one, two, three. 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:48.880 I don't know what sides you may have to flip 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:53.520 it out. You get something I got. I got a 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:58.760 hint of bitter. Uh huh. Mine is totally bitter. It's 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:01.560 like great fruit bitter. Oh nice, I have a real 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:06.600 paper taste, but I mean something completely different. We can't 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:12.040 talk about it, Jerry, she's running away. She's always had 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:19.480 a great taste. Is blown? I hate great fruit, super taste. Kay, 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:23.640 spicy food, Jerry, I love spicy food, but you just 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.400 like the torture of I guess I'm not sure what's happening. 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:31.840 Oh man, that's so disappointing. You've given us a lot 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:34.880 to think about. Yeah, I feel like I'm so cheated, 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:36.640 Like not only can I not see those like three 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:39.600 D magic pictures, but also I can't taste these people. Yeah, 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:41.959 this is the worst. Okay, that's a bummer I was 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:45.320 getting I think I was getting a slight taste of bitter. Okay, 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:46.920 here we go. Well, while we're having so much fun, 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:48.920 what do you say we play a little quiz? Sounds good? 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:57.600 All right? So who do we have on the line today, Mango, 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:00.320 We've got Sarah Fiddler, who's got one of the list 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:02.320 jobs in the world. She's a flavor guru at one 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:05.000 of my favorite ice cream companies, Ben and Jerry's. We 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:07.160 are so excited to have you on. Welcome to part 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.520 time genius, Sarah. Thank you for having me. So I'm 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:13.000 really curious how you got this job. I mean, what 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:15.199 sort of training and schooling do you have to have 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:18.960 to become a Ben and Jerry's flavor guru? Um? Well, personally, 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:24.199 I have a degree in Food science UM from the 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:28.880 University of Vermont and a degree in baking and pastry 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:32.960 from the Culinary Institute of America. There are a group 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:36.320 of us flavor gurus here, and everybody's got kind of 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:40.440 a mixed background, from chefs to food scientists, all comes 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:44.079 from different backgrounds. It's very cool. And and how are 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:46.960 flavors decided upon? Like, how do you guys decide? You 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:49.840 have so many fun and creative and awesome flavors. How 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:52.559 do you guys come up with these? Well, we start 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:56.800 out by being very creative and kind of playing around 0:12:56.960 --> 0:13:01.559 in our test kitchens, and then we meet with our 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:05.960 marketing team or brand management team sometimes the social mission 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:10.000 team and figure out which of our crazy flavors makes 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:14.480 the most sense to launch for the next season. And 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:16.920 so how many flavors are you typically playing with? It 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:22.640 could be arranged anywhere from maybe three to ten at 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:26.760 a time. That's that's a pretty crazy UM. I heard 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:28.959 that the Ven and Jerry's staff takes a field trip 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:32.280 every year to research new flavors. Is that true. Yeah, 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.880 we go on what we call trend tracks. UM take 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:41.200 a city or area that seems to be filled with 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:48.920 really up and coming food places, sometimes cocktail places, farms, 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:52.760 and go as a group and eat as much as 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:56.760 we possibly can, and then come back and make ice 0:13:56.800 --> 0:14:00.560 cream inspired by what we ate. That's so cool. Well, 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:03.720 where are some of the fun places you've trecked to? UM? Well, 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:06.440 I'm relatively new to the company, so I have yet 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:08.400 to go on a truck, but I've heard that they've 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:13.959 gone to San Francisco, Portland's UM I believe there was 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:17.760 a trip to Japan before I started. Very cool. That's 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:20.160 so jealous of this job. That sounds pretty great. Now 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:23.600 we also know about the flavor graveyard at Ben and Jerry. 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.600 So are there are there ceremonies when flavors are buried there? 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:28.480 And how does this work? How do you pay your 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:32.280 respects um? I think for some of the flavors that 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:36.600 were a little bit more love, uh, they do ceremonies 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:42.600 and sometimes it's more of a quiet affair. You won't 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:46.040 get into that then. So that's pretty great. All right, 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:48.360 So ango, what game are we playing today with Sarah? 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.480 It's called do Me a Flavor? Mostly because I just 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:53.520 wanted to hear you say do me a flavor things. 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:57.800 I really, I really appreciate that. That's a pretty terrible t. 0:14:57.840 --> 0:14:59.720 I don't know. How do we play? Basically, we're giving 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.680 Sarah three popular flavors from an iconic food or drink 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:04.760 brant and she just has to tell us what we're 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:07.320 talking about. Okay, that sounds fun. All right, Sarah? You 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:11.960 ready to play? I'm ready? Okay. Question number one? This 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:15.840 chip comes in cool Ranch, nacho, cheese, and heat wave flavors. 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.000 So do me a flavor and tell me what product 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:21.720 we're talking about. You Yeah, you got it for one 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:25.120 Question number two. The most popular flavors of this candy 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:29.240 include very cherry and buttered popcorn, though the blueberry flavor 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:32.400 was particularly popular in the nineteen eighties when it was 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:35.520 created for Ronald Reagan. Do me a flavor, manger A, 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:38.520 you're gonna make me say. Do me a flavor and 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:44.800 tell me what brand we're talking about for two question 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:48.520 number three. This sports drink originally came in lemon, lime, 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:52.520 and orange flavors. It has since expanded to include rainberry, 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:57.000 glacier freeze, and cool blue. Do me a flavor and 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:01.360 tell me what beverage I'm talking about. Yes, sorry, she's 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:02.840 three for three. Let's see if she can get the 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:06.400 last two question number four. While this O shaped breakfast 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:09.320 cereal does come in flavors like fruity and frosted, the 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:13.000 most popular varieties are still original and honey nut. Do 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:15.200 me a flavor and tell me what breakfast cereal I'm 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:19.520 talking about. Okay, we've saved the hardest for last. Good 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:23.560 luck on this one. Okay, Question number five. This iconic 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:27.440 ice cream brand has the best puny flavors, including Fish Food, 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:31.360 American Dream, and the Tonight Dough. Do me a flavor 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:33.640 and tell me what really wonderful ice cream company we're 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:37.000 talking about? All right? That would have been kind of 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:42.800 embarrassing if she missed out. Well, Sarah when an astounding 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:45.600 five for five, which wins her the grand prize, a 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.160 handwritten note from us to her mom or boss singing 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:51.840 her praises. So, congratulations Sarah, and thank you so much 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:56.920 for playing. That's awesome. Congratulations Sarah. Please tell all the 0:16:56.920 --> 0:16:59.000 people that Ben and Jerry's we say thank you for 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:13.720 making wonderful ice or even keep up the great work. 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:20.760 I guess what will? What's that mango? I'm coming to 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:22.679 terms with the fact that I'm not a super taste 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.960 al right. Well, lucky for you, we've been talking about 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:28.800 the fact that flavor is so much more than just taste, 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:32.280 and then we just talked about taste. But I think 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:34.640 it's time we backed that statement up and talk about 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:37.560 another key component of flavor, and that smell. All right, 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:40.040 talk to me about smell. Well, if you think taste 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:42.760 is a complicated thing, it's nothing compared to the complexity 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:45.679 of smell. Think about the millions upon millions of smells 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:47.480 in the world and how our noses have to make 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:50.080 sense of them and help us identify what things are. 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.760 In fact, as Holmes points out, the old faction researcher 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:58.240 Joel Mainland estimates that they're about twenty seven billion smelling 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:01.320 molecules in the world. And while that doesn't mean they're 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:05.639 about billion smells because some might be identical, that's still 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:08.560 this incredible number. Well, the other thing, Holmes explains that 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:10.800 I find so interesting, and this goes back to your 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:14.600 electric lollipop example, but that's how different taste and smell are. 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:17.639 So our sense of taste is pretty easy to break down. 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:19.920 We can enjoy a dish of sweet and sour pork 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:22.720 and understand that it's sweet and sour, or have some 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:25.440 catch up and know that it's sweet, sour, salty and 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.600 new mommy. And maybe we're not thinking about those things actively, 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:31.000 but those are all there and we can identify them. 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:34.000 So but smell is different because you really can't break 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:37.200 it down. Instead, our brains take all the information from 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:40.600 the smelly molecules and create a single perception of smell. 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:44.720 As Holmes writes, if you combine ethyl isobuterate which is 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:48.520 a fruity odor ethyl maltall it's just caramel like an 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:53.600 allyl alpha ionine, which is violet like in the proper proportions. 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:56.600 For example, what you smell is not caramel coated fruit 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:59.920 on a bed of violets, but pineapple. And it's made 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.600 much more complicated by the fact that in English we 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:05.280 really don't have the language to describe smells in any 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:08.400 significant way other than seeing what they smell like. So 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:11.639 we might say something smells fishy or like grass or whatever. 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:14.399 But this isn't the case everywhere, and especially in places 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:17.280 that depend much more on those smells for survival, such 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:20.840 as the remaining hunter gatherer tribes. Take the Jehi tribe 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:23.800 of Thailand. A research team set up a smell test 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:25.919 between a group of Jehi men and a group of 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:28.720 men from Texas, and when the Jehi men were presented 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:31.920 with certain smells, they had just an easy time communicating 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:34.600 what they smelled with very descriptive words, as they did 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:37.240 in describing colors. And the Texans, on the other hand, 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:39.840 were of course able to describe colors, but they struggled 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:42.520 when asked to describe smells. When there's one more reason 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:44.960 why smell is just so difficult for us to understand 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:47.959 and talk about what's not alright, So humans have around 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:51.040 four hundred odor receptors. But the part that makes things 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:54.320 complicated is that only about half of those receptors work 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:57.280 and pretty much everyone. But then of the other half, 0:19:57.320 --> 0:19:59.719 there's this wide range of which one's work and some 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.119 p bowl and not in others. So that leads to 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:04.920 an incredibly wide range of smells that humans are capable 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:08.560 of processing. In fact, for the most part, no two 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:11.680 people have the same sense of smell, which is pretty crazy. Yeah, 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:13.800 but needless to say, our sense of smell and makes 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:16.520 a huge contribution to the flavors we process. And there's 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:18.960 another biggie to add to taste and smell, and that's 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:21.679 the sense of touch. Think about the burn of a 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:24.160 chili pepper, or the chili feeling in your mouth when 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:27.000 you're chewing on a menty piece of gum, or visit 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:30.280 a carbonated drink. Oh man, that first sip of a coke? 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:33.560 How good is this first sip of a coke? So good? 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:38.800 I think I'll have one right now, all right to Atlanta. 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:42.199 So it's interesting how little is really understood about this 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:45.080 component of flavor at least how few studies have been 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:47.720 done on it, but we do know that spicy hot, 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:50.879 for example, is not a taste. It's something you feel, 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:53.720 and that we have specific receptors that cause the heat 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:57.520 sensation when we eat spicy things. Speaking the spicy hot. 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:00.119 Do you know how the Scoville units, which measure or 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:03.320 the heat of chili peppers got its start. Well, apparently 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:06.280 it goes back to this pharmacist and researcher Wilbur Scoville. 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:09.119