1 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to food Stuff. I'm Lauren Vocal Bump 2 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:16,680 Speaker 1: and Diamonds, and today we're talking about artificial flavor. That's right. 3 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:21,439 Speaker 1: I would say this is like food Stuffs throwback episode. Oh, 4 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:24,920 Speaker 1: it's we reference essentially everything we've ever talked about, yes, 5 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:28,200 Speaker 1: and future episodes that we are going to talk about. 6 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,680 Speaker 1: So we gave ourselves so much homework. We really did, 7 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: and you as well. You're welcome. Okay, So let's start 8 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,480 Speaker 1: out with what the heck are these things, Lauren. Well, 9 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,839 Speaker 1: artificial flavors are mixtures of chemical compounds that mimic the 10 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:47,920 Speaker 1: flavor and or scent of certain foods, sometimes because they're 11 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:51,800 Speaker 1: the same compounds that naturally appear in those foods. Right, 12 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: And a quick note here, the f d A has 13 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: no legal definition of natural when it comes to food 14 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 1: in the United States. UM marketers are allowed to use 15 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: that term willy nilly, as long as the product doesn't 16 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: contain any added colors, synthetic substances, or artificial flavors. However, 17 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: apart from knowing those things are in there, you don't 18 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:20,319 Speaker 1: really know what is in there when it says natural. Yeah, 19 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:23,920 Speaker 1: they do have a definition for flavor that whose significant 20 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional. A natural 21 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: flavor is one that comes from a plant or animal, 22 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:34,760 Speaker 1: but that can include bacteria and yeast, and artificial flavor 23 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: is one that's produced in a lab via chemical and 24 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 1: or mechanical processes UM. And note that an artificial flavor 25 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 1: and a natural flavor can be molecularly identical. It's just 26 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: how you got that compound. So artificial flavors show up 27 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: in a lot of things processed food and drinks. You know, 28 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 1: your ramen and your soda pop and weird chips and 29 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 1: dessert themed vodka. UM as of eleven of Americans grocery 30 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:12,679 Speaker 1: purchases contained added flavors. But artificial flavors are also in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, 31 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: hygiene products. You know, lip bomb, to cough syrup, to toothpaste, 32 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: to vitamins, to any kind of pill that's given a 33 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: sweet outer coating to help that medicine go down, that 34 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:25,400 Speaker 1: medicine man. The folks who work in this industry are 35 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: called flavor chemists or flavorists, and their jobs are not easy. 36 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:32,800 Speaker 1: Only about five hundred are certified by the Society of 37 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: Flavor Chemists worldwide, and their job is not easy because, okay, like, 38 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: the compounds that make say a strawberry smell and taste 39 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: like a strawberry are a lot of compounds, and they're 40 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: all working together in these strange and ephemeral ways. And 41 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: that's because the way that we smell and taste things 42 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: is complicated. The average adult has about ten thousand taste buds, 43 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 1: not just on your tongue, by the way, a few 44 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:00,880 Speaker 1: are spread throughout the rest of your oral cavity. And 45 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:03,640 Speaker 1: these are nerve endings that are triggered to send signals 46 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:06,399 Speaker 1: to your brain when they interact with specific types of molecules. 47 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: These cells give you all kinds of levels of sweet, sour, bitter, salty, 48 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: and savory sometimes called umami. And then you've got other 49 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:19,359 Speaker 1: nerve cells throughout your oral and nasal cavities that detect 50 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 1: molecules that give us a sense of chemical heat and 51 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: cooling and tingling, you know, spicy, hot, or minty or 52 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: mentholi stuff like that. Those same cells also detect a 53 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:35,560 Speaker 1: stringency that's what tells your brain that lemons or or 54 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: dry wines taste not just sour but like physically puckery. Yeah, 55 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: and then you've got all faction or scent. Uh nerves 56 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:46,960 Speaker 1: and your nasal cavity alert your brain when they interact 57 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: with more other different molecules both from outside and inside 58 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:54,920 Speaker 1: your mouth. For strawberries, for example, researchers have isolated over 59 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 1: three hundred compounds that affect our experience of smell and 60 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 1: taste tomatoes. It's over fo wow. Also, even once you 61 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: do isolate a bunch of these compounds, it's not really 62 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: all that useful unless you can figure out a way 63 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:14,560 Speaker 1: to produce them cheaply and in large quantities. In a 64 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:17,360 Speaker 1: lot of cases, we don't know how the plants make 65 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: these compounds to begin with, so figuring out a way 66 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: to produce them is hard. It's very difficult, Yes, and 67 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: it is a big industry. One market estimate from Leffingwell 68 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,960 Speaker 1: and Associates put the total flavor and fragrance industry sales 69 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:37,919 Speaker 1: for at twenty four billion dollars. And that's not like 70 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 1: consumer purchases. That's sales straight from the companies that produce 71 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,520 Speaker 1: these flavor incent compounds to other companies that put them 72 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 1: in stuff. That is a hefty, hefty number, a hefty thumb. 73 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:55,520 Speaker 1: My favorite thing about artificial flavors um that I kind 74 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:57,920 Speaker 1: of never thought about, is that in some cases it's 75 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:02,919 Speaker 1: like you're tasting the pow best and speaking of the past. 76 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:06,920 Speaker 1: Let's talk about history. But first let's take a quick 77 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:19,679 Speaker 1: break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back. 78 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:25,279 Speaker 1: Thank you sponsor. All right. So, the very first iteration 79 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:30,159 Speaker 1: of artificial flavors were oils made from extracted fragrances and 80 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: flavors in ancient Egypt. Ever Sena or even Senna, the 81 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:38,680 Speaker 1: Persian position and philosopher, took this a step further in 82 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:43,279 Speaker 1: the eleventh century. He realized that you could distill oils 83 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:46,160 Speaker 1: by steaming the plant to get the oil whatever you're 84 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:48,919 Speaker 1: trying to get, and then let it condense back to 85 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:52,480 Speaker 1: a liquid, sort of like what you would do with alcohol. 86 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:56,720 Speaker 1: This innovation opened the doors for a lot more flavors 87 00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:00,599 Speaker 1: and cents. The first historical record as we have of 88 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 1: artificial flavorings come out of the mid nineteenth century the 89 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 1: Crystal Palace Exhibition, London eight one, all kinds of scientific 90 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: and technological advances on display for the public, including artificially 91 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,919 Speaker 1: flavored candies for the sampling in pineapple, apple, pear, and 92 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 1: grape flavors. With industrialization and full swing All of these 93 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:30,599 Speaker 1: flavors were compounds discovered as accidental byproducts and other scientific 94 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:36,280 Speaker 1: endeavors and synthesized in labs. Similarly to artificial sweeteners, Scientists 95 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:39,960 Speaker 1: doing other experiments maybe get a whiff of something fruity 96 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:43,159 Speaker 1: and a thought to themselves, hmmmm, I bet we could 97 00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:47,719 Speaker 1: use this to flavor things. And these first artificial flavors 98 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: were generally single chemicals diluted with alcohol. Also similar to 99 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:56,560 Speaker 1: artificial sweeteners, these flavors came from things you might not suspect, 100 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:05,400 Speaker 1: like quote Suft says of intensely disgusting odor. Yeah, and 101 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 1: like I said about tasting a bit of the past thing, 102 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about some artificial flavors that just 103 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 1: don't taste like what they claim to be imitating. And 104 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:19,720 Speaker 1: one is artificial cherry. Oh yeah. The cherry flavoring found 105 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:23,120 Speaker 1: in most sodas and candies is more reminiscent of wild 106 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:26,680 Speaker 1: cherries or cherry liqueur. And that's because when it was 107 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: first derived, it was this Esther method. And the chemical 108 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:36,080 Speaker 1: behind cheap artificial cherry is benzalza hide, which is also 109 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:38,520 Speaker 1: used in almond oil. I was reading about this in 110 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: an interview with artificial flavoring expert Nadia Bahrenstein, and she 111 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 1: described it as an heirloom or in heritage flavor or 112 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: official flavor, which I kind of love. Yeah, yeah, huh. 113 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: That's that's why it doesn't taste at all. Like, Okay, 114 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: I totally get the almond thing. As we mentioned in 115 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: our Vanilla episode, Vanillen, the compound behind Vanilla's flavor, was 116 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:08,200 Speaker 1: isolated in eighteen fifty eight by Nicola Theodore gobli Um. 117 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:11,040 Speaker 1: It was the first artificial flavor that was derived from 118 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:15,480 Speaker 1: the actual ingredient it was meant to mimic. Almost two 119 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 1: decades later, in eighteen seventy four, a pair of German 120 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:22,560 Speaker 1: scientists by the names of Ferdinand Tianman and Wilhelm Harmon 121 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:27,320 Speaker 1: used pine tree bark to synthesize Vanillan. The very next year, 122 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 1: they opened the world's first Vanillan factory, so that the 123 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 1: popular flavor was no longer going to empty your bank account. 124 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:36,080 Speaker 1: We talked about that a lot in the Vanilla episode. 125 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: Should you like to listen to that If you haven't 126 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:41,160 Speaker 1: already by the time this factory opened, you could get 127 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,320 Speaker 1: all kinds of artificial fruit flavors. According to one writer 128 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:48,240 Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty four, Artificial essences of nearly every fruit 129 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:50,760 Speaker 1: are made, some of which are absolutely perfect in their 130 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:53,960 Speaker 1: resemblance to the real fruit essence, while others leave a 131 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: great deal to the imagination. That's one of those kind 132 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:02,280 Speaker 1: of like backhanded compliment insult things. Yeah, you think it's 133 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:07,520 Speaker 1: going well right. Up until in the eighteen sixties, a 134 00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:11,560 Speaker 1: decade before bananas were available in the US, people could 135 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:16,240 Speaker 1: purchase artificially banana flavored candies. They were derived from a 136 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:21,080 Speaker 1: compound found in the original commercialized banana grow michelle which 137 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 1: is why we call it fake banana. Or this seems 138 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:28,360 Speaker 1: to be the general consensus, but not totally agreed upon 139 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:31,440 Speaker 1: in the scientific community. Yeah, one researcher who looked into 140 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:35,679 Speaker 1: it found no particular evidence that artificial banana flavoring came 141 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:39,920 Speaker 1: directly from the grown machelle. But he did find that 142 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:42,679 Speaker 1: the grow Machell variety, which you can still get from 143 00:09:42,679 --> 00:09:45,880 Speaker 1: a few specialty growers in places like Hawaii, has a 144 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 1: flavor that's sweeter and more flat or or simple than 145 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:55,600 Speaker 1: today's cavendish banana. And this is scientific. Gas chromatography showed 146 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:59,240 Speaker 1: fewer known flavor and or sent compounds in the grown 147 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:04,280 Speaker 1: machell so compared with the Cavendish banana grow Michelle bananas 148 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:09,400 Speaker 1: taste sort of artificial. Uh m, well, this brings us 149 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:12,680 Speaker 1: to juicy fruit. What kind of fruit is juicy fruit? 150 00:10:12,760 --> 00:10:16,080 Speaker 1: By the way, no one knows. If you don't know 151 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 1: what juicy fruit is, it's the Wrigley's fruit gum that 152 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:22,439 Speaker 1: it's an yellow package, or it was when I was 153 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 1: a kid. Uh uh in three this is when it debuted. 154 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:29,840 Speaker 1: The interesting thing here is it's got no clear flavor, 155 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:33,320 Speaker 1: and when you taste it, you're like, yeah, this juicy fruit, 156 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:37,679 Speaker 1: but you don't know what fruit is the juicy one, 157 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:41,680 Speaker 1: we are disgusting. It's not specified. And juicy fruit went 158 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: all the way with it, going so far as to 159 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:47,439 Speaker 1: adopt this slogan in the nineteen forties, the gum with 160 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:55,079 Speaker 1: the fascinating artificial flavor. M well, they embraced it. As 161 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:58,199 Speaker 1: the century drew to a close, you can find so 162 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 1: many artificial fruit flavors. The US, Canada, France, Britain and 163 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 1: Germany used them, and all sorts of things like candy 164 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,840 Speaker 1: jams or drug store soda. They seemed to be doing 165 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: a pretty decent job at the flavor part too. When 166 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:16,680 Speaker 1: a Massachusetts Board of Health inspector came asking around about 167 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:19,080 Speaker 1: these things in the eighteen seventies. What's going on here? 168 00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:23,800 Speaker 1: A soda vendor told him customers cannot distinguish the artificial 169 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:29,760 Speaker 1: from the true fruit flavors. However, not everybody agreed, including 170 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 1: Charles Soul's, the author of a eight eight soda and 171 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:37,079 Speaker 1: Beverage handbook that included this note, no amount of chemical 172 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:41,120 Speaker 1: skill can imitate the fine flavors of many fruits. I 173 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:43,800 Speaker 1: like that quote just because it has a lot of 174 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:49,640 Speaker 1: fs in it. Then we get to the US Pure 175 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 1: Food and Drug Act in nineteen o six. Thanks in 176 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:57,240 Speaker 1: part two Hines that Hines, Yes, that Hines, catch up. 177 00:11:57,280 --> 00:12:00,319 Speaker 1: Hines absolutely, and we have a ketchup out in the 178 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:05,160 Speaker 1: works and he is fascinating. So look for that. Look 179 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 1: for that an upcoming episode. There's all this concern about 180 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:13,640 Speaker 1: artificial flavors being part of the problem of masking the 181 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:18,560 Speaker 1: problem specifically like rotting food or especially rotting food kind 182 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:21,680 Speaker 1: of like non food food ingredients. Yeah, basically tricking you 183 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:26,840 Speaker 1: into eating something that you weren't eating. Yeah. After President 184 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:30,040 Speaker 1: Roosevelt m passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, anything 185 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:34,480 Speaker 1: containing imitation in quotes, flavors had to be labeled as such. This, 186 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:40,120 Speaker 1: the codified differentiation between genuine and imitation foods, was the 187 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:44,600 Speaker 1: first statutory distinction in the US. If the flavor came 188 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:47,880 Speaker 1: from the actual thing, it was genuine. If it was 189 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:54,720 Speaker 1: synthetically derived, then it was imitation. Artificial flavor manufacturers smarter 190 00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:58,440 Speaker 1: a bit at this. I can imagine not the law necessarily, 191 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:02,080 Speaker 1: but the fact that they were being hauled impure or dangerous. 192 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:06,160 Speaker 1: The Flavor and Exteck Manufacturers Association launched a campaign in 193 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 1: nt to improve their negative image and what they've viewed 194 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 1: as an unfair association with quote adults, rats, food poisoners, 195 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:22,280 Speaker 1: and drug dopesters. M Some like chemists Allois von Isaacovix, 196 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:26,959 Speaker 1: believed the law improved sales and that synthetics could be 197 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:30,920 Speaker 1: better than the real thing. Just to point out, artificial, 198 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:34,880 Speaker 1: artificially produced compounds can actually be more pure, yeah, and 199 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,320 Speaker 1: safe than naturally produced ones due to you know, when 200 00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:43,360 Speaker 1: you've got biological organisms creating stuff for you. They they're organisms, 201 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:45,679 Speaker 1: and their stuff can vary. Right when you're doing it 202 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 1: in a lab, you have the opportunity to really isolate 203 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:53,320 Speaker 1: it out. This is true either way um Meanwhile, a 204 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:57,280 Speaker 1: Japanese chemist unlocked and easy way to convey savory flavor 205 00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:03,480 Speaker 1: through food monosodium glutamate m S. G Akita Kune isolated 206 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:06,920 Speaker 1: MSG as the compound in c KELP that gives an 207 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:11,240 Speaker 1: extra depth of flavor to kombudashi broth and coined the 208 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:15,439 Speaker 1: term ummi to describe it, derived from a colloquial word 209 00:14:15,679 --> 00:14:20,120 Speaker 1: for tasty. Uh So yes ummy is a nineteen odds 210 00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:25,240 Speaker 1: marketing term anyway. Uh MSG went on the market in 211 00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:27,880 Speaker 1: nineteen o nine as a food supplement that could make 212 00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:31,120 Speaker 1: bland but nutritious food more appealing. Now that was a 213 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:35,520 Speaker 1: hope anyway. After aggressive educational marketing, it really caught on 214 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:39,240 Speaker 1: with upper middle class housewives and spread to Taiwan, China, 215 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:41,480 Speaker 1: and the United States over the next couple of decades 216 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:45,520 Speaker 1: as an inexpensive and vegetarian alternative to using pricey animal 217 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:49,480 Speaker 1: products in cooking, although it was a household product in 218 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:54,200 Speaker 1: Asia and it was mostly an industrial and restaurant ingredient 219 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:58,600 Speaker 1: over here in the States. More on that later. Sometime 220 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:02,680 Speaker 1: around nineteen t a fellow who worked out he worked 221 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:07,000 Speaker 1: out he worked with the flavor extracts for soda past 222 00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:11,120 Speaker 1: A woman whose perfume was a dead ringer for concord grapes. 223 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:15,120 Speaker 1: He was able to track down the chemical behind the fragrance, 224 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:17,680 Speaker 1: and he discovered they were already using it in Germany 225 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:22,360 Speaker 1: and Austria as orange blossom essence. That's because they had 226 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:25,800 Speaker 1: a different type of grape than the concord, with a 227 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 1: different flavor and smell. Interestingly, this was a long time 228 00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:33,960 Speaker 1: before scientists actually knew that this was a flavor chemical 229 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:38,520 Speaker 1: in grapes. Yeah, and some flavors are easier to figure 230 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:42,760 Speaker 1: out than others. One that is apparently notoriously difficult is coffee. 231 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:46,880 Speaker 1: In the nineteen twenties, Dutch chemists isolated a compound called 232 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:51,440 Speaker 1: diacetyle that imparted a buttery flavor to foods. It's produced 233 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:54,480 Speaker 1: naturally by the lactic acid bacteria at work in some 234 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:59,240 Speaker 1: alcohols like chardonnay and also in cultured butter. Makes sense. 235 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:03,480 Speaker 1: As industrialization gripped the dairy industry, creameries started using this 236 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:07,560 Speaker 1: artificial di settle to standardize their butter or to cut 237 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:11,920 Speaker 1: corners by skipping the culturation step entirely. More on that 238 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:16,320 Speaker 1: in our better episode and our popcorn episode. Yeah, all 239 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:20,960 Speaker 1: the throwbacks. Also in the nineties, chemist at the U. 240 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:24,160 Speaker 1: S d A. Tried to nail down artificial apple flavor 241 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:27,440 Speaker 1: from a ton of apples, not like an actual ton. 242 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,680 Speaker 1: They were only able to extract less than two grams 243 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 1: of usable stuff, and from there they isolated five chemicals 244 00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:37,920 Speaker 1: which you can find. It was part of the public 245 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:43,000 Speaker 1: domain since it was government research. Flavor science is complicated. 246 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:49,600 Speaker 1: Most flavor compounds held by companies our proprietary um. One 247 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:52,560 Speaker 1: of the best examples of these secret flavorings was peach, 248 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:56,200 Speaker 1: first perfected in the Cincinnati area by a firm called 249 00:16:56,320 --> 00:17:00,760 Speaker 1: Fries and Fries. Everyone was trying to figure out their secret. Uh, 250 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:02,600 Speaker 1: and the cat came out of the bag when a 251 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:06,280 Speaker 1: flavored chemist learned that they discovered one of the compounds 252 00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:10,639 Speaker 1: accidentally after a mishap and castor oil production resulted in 253 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:14,119 Speaker 1: the entire factory smelling like peaches. I mean off the 254 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:17,720 Speaker 1: things that could happen after Well, that's pretty good. Yeah, 255 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:22,680 Speaker 1: that's the best possible mistake. Yeah and um. Another chemical 256 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:25,760 Speaker 1: component in their peach flavoring was discovered after somebody left 257 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:29,199 Speaker 1: a piece of cheese soaked in oil call down in 258 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:33,159 Speaker 1: the basement next to the furnace. Whether on purpose, or 259 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:38,080 Speaker 1: by accident. The article did not specify. Huh the iPad. 260 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:40,360 Speaker 1: Some might just left his cheese down there. Oh yeah, 261 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 1: just accidentally dropped piece of cheese and they're beer. I'm 262 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:48,960 Speaker 1: not known the world. We'll never know. Another weird fact 263 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,640 Speaker 1: that I love. Um. People seem to think that red 264 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:55,440 Speaker 1: drinks are sweeter than nod red drinks in taste tests, 265 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:58,640 Speaker 1: regardless of whether or not they actually are, just because 266 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:03,120 Speaker 1: we associate red with and flavors. Um. Oh and unless 267 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:06,800 Speaker 1: SODA's purple, most folks can't tell you after tasting it 268 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:09,119 Speaker 1: that it's great flavored. They need that perfect need the 269 00:18:09,119 --> 00:18:13,240 Speaker 1: purple indicator. They don't recognize the flavor without the color. Yeah, 270 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:15,119 Speaker 1: this is one of those things that there's a difference 271 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:18,160 Speaker 1: between flavor and taste. Taste is the literal thing that's 272 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:20,199 Speaker 1: happening with your taste buds, and flavor is all that 273 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:25,040 Speaker 1: other stuff. Yeah s, sound, etcetera. Yeah. So at this 274 00:18:25,119 --> 00:18:28,320 Speaker 1: point in our timeline, Uh, the the industry is actually 275 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:32,640 Speaker 1: about to get a lot easier to work in due 276 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:35,320 Speaker 1: to a technological innovation, which we will talk about when 277 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:37,400 Speaker 1: we get back from one last break for a word 278 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:50,520 Speaker 1: from our sponsor, and we're back thank you sponsor. So 279 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:54,280 Speaker 1: the entire flavor industry would get a serious boost when 280 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:58,480 Speaker 1: chromatography technology advanced in the nineteen forties and fifties, the 281 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 1: first gas chromatic aographs were produced commercially later that decade. 282 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:06,159 Speaker 1: Scientists going back to the beginning of the twentieth century 283 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:10,240 Speaker 1: had been investigating ways to separate out and identify compounds 284 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:13,560 Speaker 1: that make up various substances. And it turns out that 285 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:15,640 Speaker 1: if you heat a sample of something to the point 286 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:18,879 Speaker 1: that it vaporizes, and then pass that vapor through a 287 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:22,800 Speaker 1: column of liquid, all the chemical components from the sample 288 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:25,439 Speaker 1: will interact with the liquid and the sides of this 289 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:31,200 Speaker 1: column slightly differently because of their inherent molecular properties, sort 290 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:35,280 Speaker 1: of like runners of different speeds. These chemicals will separate 291 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:38,840 Speaker 1: themselves out from one another as they flow through this chamber, 292 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:41,080 Speaker 1: and then you can use a chemical detector of one 293 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:43,240 Speaker 1: kind or another to figure out what each of those 294 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:51,119 Speaker 1: compounds is. So suddenly chemists had a relatively inexpensive way 295 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:54,280 Speaker 1: to like automatically detect chemicals from stuff. You didn't need 296 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:58,080 Speaker 1: like tremendous training to use this machine. You could start 297 00:19:58,119 --> 00:20:01,760 Speaker 1: identifying the compounds and products that may or may not 298 00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:04,359 Speaker 1: give them their flavor, may or may not. May or 299 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:07,359 Speaker 1: may not. Doors are opening, they are. And as mass 300 00:20:07,359 --> 00:20:11,800 Speaker 1: production of food and nationalization of products took off, so 301 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:14,639 Speaker 1: did the need to add back in flavor that was 302 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,800 Speaker 1: lost in mass production and to have a product with 303 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:22,399 Speaker 1: a consistent flavor a cost country and even around the world, 304 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 1: more and more foods were processed, and therefore more and 305 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:31,040 Speaker 1: more foods were artificially flavored. The first flavored potato chips 306 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:35,119 Speaker 1: from Irish company Potato came out in the nineteen fifties, 307 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:38,679 Speaker 1: with salt and vinegar and cheese and onion varieties. On 308 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:42,920 Speaker 1: US grocery shelves, you'd find barbecue are sura cream, and onion. 309 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:46,080 Speaker 1: This was the time that grocery stores were really taking off, 310 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:49,359 Speaker 1: and so many products were competing to end up in 311 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:53,399 Speaker 1: the American shoppers cart. Having a memorable flavor was a 312 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:57,960 Speaker 1: big part of that. In a VP at General Mills, 313 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:01,080 Speaker 1: oh yeah that. General Mills said that flavors should serve 314 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 1: quote as a built in trademark which will invariably be 315 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:08,320 Speaker 1: identified with its brand name and its producer. In the 316 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:12,280 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties, the slogan of a popular um fragrance and 317 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:16,600 Speaker 1: flavor brand was nothing sells like flavor, and that it 318 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:22,119 Speaker 1: was the silent salesman. I know. The Food Drug and 319 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:28,720 Speaker 1: Cosmetics Act gotta makeover. That's when the list of generally 320 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:32,800 Speaker 1: recognized as Safe g r a s was introduced in 321 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:35,040 Speaker 1: the U s. And it meant that manufacturers, if they 322 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:37,240 Speaker 1: wanted to be on that list, had to prove they 323 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:40,720 Speaker 1: were worthy of the designation. It made things easier for 324 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:43,560 Speaker 1: the f D a UM and for companies wanting to 325 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:46,320 Speaker 1: use the ingredients on the list, including those in the 326 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:52,320 Speaker 1: artificial flavoring category. Wow. But artificial flavors were not immune 327 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:56,719 Speaker 1: to the same health concerns that impacted artificial sweeteners. In 328 00:21:57,680 --> 00:21:59,919 Speaker 1: three a compound that had been used as part of 329 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:04,359 Speaker 1: artificial sweeteners and vanilla, called kumarin was taken off the 330 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:08,639 Speaker 1: market voluntarily by companies after a study came out linking 331 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:12,560 Speaker 1: it to liver damage in rats. Of flavoring and root 332 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:17,800 Speaker 1: beer called saffrol was removed this way to That same year, 333 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:22,080 Speaker 1: the Food Additives Amendment passed, but as it happened, the 334 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:24,800 Speaker 1: FDA bit off a bit more than it could show. 335 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:29,320 Speaker 1: There were more than a thousand chemicals in these additives 336 00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:32,960 Speaker 1: for them to test a lot of them and were 337 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:36,119 Speaker 1: present in really small amounts. So the f d A 338 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:38,400 Speaker 1: raised his hands and was like, oh, you know, Gay, 339 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,399 Speaker 1: we'll justs take you at your word. For most of these, 340 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:45,960 Speaker 1: they allowed the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association to decide 341 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:49,240 Speaker 1: what should be tested, and as you can imagine, they 342 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:51,680 Speaker 1: were pretty laxed about the whole thing. This is still 343 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:55,119 Speaker 1: the arrangement today, and as there were over three thousand 344 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:59,440 Speaker 1: chemical additives on the generally recognized A safe list, although 345 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: in teen sixty and sixty nine controversy over the safety 346 00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:07,679 Speaker 1: of artificial sweeteners sacharin and cyclamate prompted President Nixon to 347 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:11,640 Speaker 1: order an FDA review of all the additives on its 348 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,800 Speaker 1: g r A S list. Amidst all of this, in 349 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,480 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight, a Chinese American doctor wrote a speculative 350 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:22,840 Speaker 1: letter for the New England Journal of Medicine, a sort 351 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:25,320 Speaker 1: of thinking out loud piece about effects that he had 352 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:28,840 Speaker 1: anecdotally noticed after eating at Chinese restaurants, including stuff like 353 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:33,440 Speaker 1: heart palpitations, and the journal labeled this Chinese restaurant syndrome. 354 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:37,920 Speaker 1: Although the doctor brought up a whole list of possible 355 00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:41,920 Speaker 1: culprits from like Ted to wind duck sauce, to imported mushrooms. 356 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:45,080 Speaker 1: The press latched on to the item on the list 357 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:50,919 Speaker 1: that was an unnatural additive MSG. Yeah, there was no 358 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:54,000 Speaker 1: conclusive research about its effects, but the press and the 359 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:58,440 Speaker 1: public rallied against it, and some factions in Japan picked 360 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,479 Speaker 1: up the battle cry. One writer who was promoting in 361 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:05,080 Speaker 1: general a return to natural foods when as far as 362 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:10,439 Speaker 1: saying the frightening thing about processed foods made by large corporations, 363 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:13,040 Speaker 1: in addition to the toxicity of the large quantities of 364 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:16,560 Speaker 1: food additives used, is that they caused the spiritual ruin 365 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:22,399 Speaker 1: of Japanese women. What his His idea here was the 366 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:24,439 Speaker 1: cooking healthy meals for your family as a form of 367 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:28,560 Speaker 1: prayer and a road to internal peace. And yeah, apparently 368 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:33,000 Speaker 1: additives like MSG can just ruin that. I had no idea. 369 00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:36,160 Speaker 1: We talked a little bit about MSG in our episode 370 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:40,920 Speaker 1: on Ramen, but to reiterate here, research published in two 371 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:43,960 Speaker 1: thousand and six that reviewed almost forty years worth of 372 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:48,520 Speaker 1: research studies found no serious side effects or sensitivities in 373 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:52,200 Speaker 1: humans at large to the amount of MSG that you 374 00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:55,560 Speaker 1: could possibly consume through food, like maybe headache or dry 375 00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:57,440 Speaker 1: mouth if you're eating on an empty stomach, and you're 376 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:01,720 Speaker 1: not probably properly hydrated. But the the only really bad 377 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:04,679 Speaker 1: effects that any researchers ever found about MSG were when 378 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:09,679 Speaker 1: they injected it into mice. Don't don't inject yourself with MSG. 379 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 1: Food stuff another case of advice from food stuff. We're 380 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:18,359 Speaker 1: here to help, we are. We will have to do 381 00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:20,840 Speaker 1: a whole episode though sometimes on MSG. It's it's a 382 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:24,960 Speaker 1: really fascinating story. It's one of those terrific corporate efforts 383 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:28,119 Speaker 1: that that took off extremely well and had some dips, 384 00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:31,119 Speaker 1: and yeah, it's great. Yeah, I'm excited to return to that. 385 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: The diet foods that really started to take off in 386 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:40,840 Speaker 1: the sixties and seventies necessitated a lot of artificial flavorings 387 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:44,480 Speaker 1: so that they didn't taste so dull, so boring. In 388 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: the words of this ad Providing taste appeal for foods 389 00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:51,120 Speaker 1: lacking either sugar or salt, and sometimes both is an 390 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:56,280 Speaker 1: extremely difficult problem, and flavor differences in some degree are inevitable. However, 391 00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:00,560 Speaker 1: the flavor chemists can, by diligent research, provide an acceptable 392 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:05,080 Speaker 1: flavor of such foods. Like acceptable, that's such a low bar. 393 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,960 Speaker 1: It's kind of true. Though, oh yeah, absolutely. Some things 394 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:15,280 Speaker 1: I read suggested companies designed artificial flavors to lack an aftertaste, 395 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:18,199 Speaker 1: which encouraged you to eat more of their product. And 396 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:19,560 Speaker 1: I don't know how true that is. I didn't have 397 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:21,520 Speaker 1: time to like dig into it, but I have heard 398 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,760 Speaker 1: similar things recently, so I mentioned it. Another thing we 399 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:26,760 Speaker 1: have to come back to. This episode is full of 400 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:29,359 Speaker 1: like this path, this path, this path, Oh yeah, to 401 00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:33,480 Speaker 1: choose your own adventure. In the nineteen seventies, the chemical 402 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:37,440 Speaker 1: synthesis of vanillen pushed ahead with new ways to cheaply, 403 00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:43,760 Speaker 1: not simply cheaply, synthesize vanillen from various chemical precursors, including guayacole, 404 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 1: which is a byproduct of the petroleum industry, and lingnan, 405 00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:50,240 Speaker 1: which is a byproduct of the wood and paper industries. 406 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,880 Speaker 1: These methods of production of synthesis are cheap, but they're 407 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,959 Speaker 1: not always great environmentally speaking. Um, you've got to use 408 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:01,960 Speaker 1: some hazardous solvents and other chemical to produce and purify 409 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:06,560 Speaker 1: your vanillin for lignant. For example, every kilo of vanillan 410 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:09,080 Speaker 1: that you make creates a hundred and sixty kilos of 411 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:11,320 Speaker 1: waste that you have to figure out how to safely 412 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:15,159 Speaker 1: dispose of, and products that use these synthesized vanillas have 413 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:19,639 Speaker 1: to be labeled artificial, which consumers don't always like those 414 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:24,040 Speaker 1: finicky consumers. Yeah, of course we should say. Natural flavors 415 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:28,040 Speaker 1: can also take an environmental toll. Agriculture uses tremendous amounts 416 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:31,640 Speaker 1: of resources and can use harmful chemicals to um. That's 417 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:35,000 Speaker 1: why traditionally, artificial flavors have been so much cheaper than 418 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:40,600 Speaker 1: natural flavors until in two thousand and nine, researchers were 419 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,680 Speaker 1: able to make a type of yeast that makes vanilla 420 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:49,080 Speaker 1: flavored bacteria troop after feasting on sugar, it excretes vanillan. 421 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:54,480 Speaker 1: This means they can technically label it as natural. This 422 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:58,720 Speaker 1: natural vanillin went on sale in the US, but not 423 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:03,520 Speaker 1: without controversy espec sleep from the anti GMO crowd. Other 424 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:07,879 Speaker 1: obligatory note, there's no reason to distrust genetically modified foods 425 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:10,560 Speaker 1: and food products as a whole. It's actually a super 426 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:13,800 Speaker 1: impressive feat to get yeast in bacteria to create vanilla 427 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:17,439 Speaker 1: plants make it as an antimicrobial. Its whole job in 428 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,280 Speaker 1: plants is to not is to kill bacteria, so it 429 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:26,840 Speaker 1: tends to be toxic to microbes. That's pretty pretty neat. Yeah, 430 00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:29,440 Speaker 1: but yeah, there's there's a lot of bacteria and yeast 431 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:34,639 Speaker 1: being genetically modified and and farmed to produce natural flavors 432 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:37,760 Speaker 1: these days. Yes, and their next goal is I bet 433 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:43,440 Speaker 1: you can guess, engineer a natural calorie free sugar. Yeah, 434 00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:48,000 Speaker 1: and they have a lot of funding behind them to succeed. Um. 435 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:51,000 Speaker 1: And here, Yeah, this finally brings us to the most 436 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:55,880 Speaker 1: important question. Yes, what the heck is blue raspberry? What 437 00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: is it? Why is it blue? I don't know. Actually, 438 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,920 Speaker 1: this is the thing that like I really wanted to 439 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:08,800 Speaker 1: know in this whole episode. Okay, the answer takes us 440 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:12,720 Speaker 1: back to the summers of the early nine I remember 441 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:16,360 Speaker 1: them not at all, oh me, but I can imagine 442 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:19,000 Speaker 1: on these hot summer days, kids were reaching for a 443 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:23,920 Speaker 1: cool treat in the form of flavor ice pops or 444 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:27,520 Speaker 1: otter pops. And yet those are the clear tubes of 445 00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:30,000 Speaker 1: icy sugar that have probably been in your freezer since 446 00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:31,960 Speaker 1: you've owned one. You don't know how they got there 447 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:34,000 Speaker 1: there there though, Yeah, we've got some in our freezer. 448 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:39,240 Speaker 1: I have no idea really. Yeah. Um. The problem with 449 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:42,440 Speaker 1: these ice pops is that they were limited to four 450 00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:46,720 Speaker 1: flavors at the time cherry, strawberry, watermelon, and raspberry, all 451 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:49,840 Speaker 1: of which our shades of red, and it made it 452 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:53,760 Speaker 1: kind of hard to differentiate between flavors, hard but doable. 453 00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:58,200 Speaker 1: And the f D A came out with research suggesting 454 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:02,280 Speaker 1: red number two, the responsible for the red color, was 455 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:06,760 Speaker 1: very bad for your health. So these popsicle companies switched 456 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:09,760 Speaker 1: it up, um, using different dyes to get the shades 457 00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:13,040 Speaker 1: of red and pink. But these new dyes were either 458 00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:18,000 Speaker 1: more expensive and or possibly worse for you health wise. Um, 459 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:21,120 Speaker 1: the popsicles, I guess I should say pops ice pups 460 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:25,560 Speaker 1: companies set their eyes on an alternative at the time, 461 00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: the blue raspberry flavored icy You know those frozen eated 462 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:32,600 Speaker 1: fun things, right, that's they're saying, I didn't come up 463 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 1: with that frozenated frozenated fun. Okay, you get him a like, yeah, 464 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:44,200 Speaker 1: movie theaters or gas stations. Yeah. Um. They had been 465 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:48,520 Speaker 1: out on the scene since nineteen seventy. It was basically 466 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:52,120 Speaker 1: a raspberry flavored icy, but died blue with f D 467 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:55,840 Speaker 1: and C number one instead of red with red number two, 468 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:59,400 Speaker 1: and actually the flavor behind blue raspberries more similar to 469 00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:04,480 Speaker 1: black berry, something called white bark raspberry. Still though, that 470 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,920 Speaker 1: berry isn't blue. Um. It's the reddish purple, and it 471 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,800 Speaker 1: does take on a bluish hue when ripe, but it's 472 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:17,040 Speaker 1: definitely not blue raspberry. Blue white bark raspberry flavor plus F, 473 00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:21,600 Speaker 1: D and C blue number one equals blue raspberry. The 474 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:23,960 Speaker 1: color was chosen in part because children are drawn to 475 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:28,440 Speaker 1: bright colors UM, as observed in the case of lemonade 476 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:33,480 Speaker 1: versus pink lemonade sales. Apparently pink lemonade way out cells lemonade. UM. 477 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:37,160 Speaker 1: Once the popsicle companies started selling pops of this flavor, 478 00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:41,360 Speaker 1: it became a regular one of the greatest mysteries of life. 479 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:46,200 Speaker 1: So oh, and by the way, one thirty two million 480 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:49,360 Speaker 1: sixteen ounce blue raspberry ices are consumed every year in 481 00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:56,880 Speaker 1: the US. Oh yeah, that's a lot. Um. We've shot 482 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,800 Speaker 1: her speechless. She had to sit back in her chip 483 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:04,920 Speaker 1: to take a break after that one. All right. Back 484 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:09,000 Speaker 1: in the early two thousands, consumers kind of kind of 485 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:14,480 Speaker 1: took up this redde number two rally again UM and 486 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:18,240 Speaker 1: started pushing back against artificial ingredients UM. Based on those 487 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:21,400 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies studies and a couple other newer ones that 488 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:27,240 Speaker 1: were linking artificial colors and preservatives to hyperactive behavior in children. 489 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:29,640 Speaker 1: And if you'll remember, this was when a d D 490 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,960 Speaker 1: and a d h D were the huge concerns. Everyone was, 491 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:35,880 Speaker 1: you know, like, is mine, does my child have this affliction? 492 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:39,040 Speaker 1: How will they survive? Not that it's not a big concern, 493 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:42,240 Speaker 1: it certainly is, and it's anyway. UM huge corporations took 494 00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:45,240 Speaker 1: notice of this and began research to replace these artificial 495 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:49,440 Speaker 1: ingredients to retain their marketability. And Nestlee Company made the 496 00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:52,520 Speaker 1: trend official in when they announced that they would be 497 00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:57,760 Speaker 1: removing and replacing all artificial color, flavors and preservatives in 498 00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:02,480 Speaker 1: their entire line of confections in the UK. That is, honestly, 499 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:04,320 Speaker 1: the USA would make the same announcement a couple of 500 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:07,360 Speaker 1: years later. The movement just hooked up with the whole 501 00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:12,720 Speaker 1: like organic Whole Foods health blog kind of trend and snowballed. Yeah, 502 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:15,280 Speaker 1: And then we've talked about that in our Cheddar episode 503 00:33:15,280 --> 00:33:17,880 Speaker 1: of Macaroni and Cheese getting rid of it, and so 504 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:20,880 Speaker 1: many UM companies now are trying to get rid of 505 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:26,240 Speaker 1: and again it's not unfortunately like like more research needs 506 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:28,840 Speaker 1: to be done to see whether or not these things 507 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:35,320 Speaker 1: are actually harmful. But yeah, I guess it's driving our 508 00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:40,680 Speaker 1: important chemists industry. Those uh flavorist hard work out there. 509 00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:43,840 Speaker 1: You've got your work cut out for you. This episode 510 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:46,760 Speaker 1: has so many, so many things I want to look 511 00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:49,440 Speaker 1: in two more and including this. I read a company 512 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:52,360 Speaker 1: in London is trying to bring three course dinner chewing 513 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:55,760 Speaker 1: gum from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to life, obviously 514 00:33:55,840 --> 00:34:00,240 Speaker 1: with the help of artificial flavoring future fictional foods. Oh 515 00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:02,080 Speaker 1: my god, why haven't we thought about a Willie walk 516 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:05,760 Speaker 1: episode yet? Okay, yes, I know, And then I thought 517 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:07,800 Speaker 1: of Duff beer from The Simpsons, and I added that 518 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:11,319 Speaker 1: to the last two. Our list is ever growing. Yes, 519 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:16,760 Speaker 1: this brings us to the end of um artificial flavoring, 520 00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:19,239 Speaker 1: with a little note that there's many things we must 521 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:22,719 Speaker 1: return to. Yes, I'm particularly interested in color association with 522 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:26,600 Speaker 1: color and food. That was so fascinating. Color psychology is 523 00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:30,160 Speaker 1: always really great to look into. Yes, um, and yes 524 00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:36,120 Speaker 1: this brings us to listener. We all did jazz hands, 525 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:41,480 Speaker 1: including Dylan MICHAELA wrote I was catching up on recent 526 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:44,560 Speaker 1: episodes and happened to listen to the McDonald's episode, followed 527 00:34:44,640 --> 00:34:47,200 Speaker 1: by the garlic episode and the McDonald's episode you talked 528 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:49,560 Speaker 1: about how Mickey D's is taking over the world, and 529 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:53,640 Speaker 1: then the garlic episode you mentioned Gilroy, California. Hearing the 530 00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:57,520 Speaker 1: episodes in this order made me laugh because in McDonald's 531 00:34:57,560 --> 00:35:01,759 Speaker 1: added Gilroy garlic fries to their menu in Bay Area locations. 532 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:04,840 Speaker 1: They were actually buying garlic from Gilroy, but they became 533 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:08,680 Speaker 1: so popular they caused a garlic shortage in the Bay Area. 534 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:11,600 Speaker 1: This made national news and she sent the link and 535 00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:15,360 Speaker 1: it totally did. And uh, I believe it. Oh that's great. 536 00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:20,120 Speaker 1: Are weird but terrific, It's it's kind of funny. Uh. 537 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:23,880 Speaker 1: Aaron wrote first. As you mentioned in the podcast, tipping 538 00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:27,480 Speaker 1: is very much expected in Egypt, so much so that 539 00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:30,680 Speaker 1: one is generally expected to tip everyone all the time, 540 00:35:30,840 --> 00:35:33,759 Speaker 1: especially if you are clearly a tourist or foreigner. You 541 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:37,279 Speaker 1: tip not only your restaurant server, taxi driver, and hairstylist, 542 00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:39,600 Speaker 1: but also someone who holds the door open for you 543 00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:42,880 Speaker 1: or pushes an elevator button. In nearly every public restroom, 544 00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:45,680 Speaker 1: there's also a person who sits at the entrance and 545 00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:48,840 Speaker 1: will only give you toilet paper in exchange for a tip. 546 00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:52,640 Speaker 1: Those smaller services or acts of kindness that expect a tip. 547 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:55,400 Speaker 1: We're usually just equivalent to an American nickel or so, 548 00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:58,720 Speaker 1: but they add up fast. We students learned pretty quickly 549 00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:02,040 Speaker 1: to carry our own toilet paper in our backpacks, lest 550 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:05,320 Speaker 1: we become too broke to afford our next meal. You 551 00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:07,600 Speaker 1: should have seen some of the looks we received when 552 00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:11,920 Speaker 1: refusing pro offered toilet paper upon entering a stall. I 553 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,080 Speaker 1: found the whole experience so stress inducing that I would 554 00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:18,360 Speaker 1: wait as long as humanly possible to use a public restroom, 555 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:20,759 Speaker 1: and mentally planned my trips in and out of our 556 00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:24,400 Speaker 1: lodging through public doorways and elevators so as to minimize 557 00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:26,359 Speaker 1: the number of times I had to root around round 558 00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:29,440 Speaker 1: in my pockets for proper change and quickly calculate exchange 559 00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:31,640 Speaker 1: rates in my head. The next tie in that I 560 00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:34,640 Speaker 1: have for you is what is served at McDonald's in Cairo. 561 00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:37,680 Speaker 1: On a major Islamic holiday, we had the day off 562 00:36:37,719 --> 00:36:40,440 Speaker 1: of classes and decided to explore the city. We found 563 00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:43,480 Speaker 1: that nearly everything was closed in observance of said holiday, 564 00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:47,480 Speaker 1: so finally, exhausted and starving, we succumbed to the sirens 565 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:50,719 Speaker 1: song of McDonald's Much to our surprise, the menu was 566 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:54,520 Speaker 1: very different than our much loved or hated American counterpart. 567 00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:57,960 Speaker 1: After weighing our options, we finally settled on mic falafels 568 00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:00,239 Speaker 1: since we wanted to try something we wouldn't normally get 569 00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:02,879 Speaker 1: back home. Can't say they were the best thing ever, 570 00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:06,600 Speaker 1: but they certainly were a new experience. Also, you might 571 00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:09,800 Speaker 1: be surprised to learn that directly facing the world famous 572 00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:14,799 Speaker 1: great Sphinx is a KFC. Yep, you can smile for 573 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:18,719 Speaker 1: selfie in front of a postcard perfect ancient Marvel and 574 00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:22,120 Speaker 1: then turn around and take a selfie with the Kentucky Colonel. 575 00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:25,920 Speaker 1: I have to say, the first time I traveled out 576 00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:27,479 Speaker 1: of the country, that was one of the weirdest things 577 00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:31,080 Speaker 1: for me, that you'd be at the Colosseum and then 578 00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:35,720 Speaker 1: there's usually KFC. I find KFC is very um prevalent 579 00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:41,280 Speaker 1: outside the US. It's just that like weird disconnect mashing together. Yeah, 580 00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:44,759 Speaker 1: of like, yep, this well, this is our world. Yeah, 581 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,920 Speaker 1: And I agree that that the tipping situation if you 582 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:50,960 Speaker 1: don't know what in another country and you're doing exchange 583 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:54,279 Speaker 1: rates and and you're already I feel like I feel 584 00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:57,479 Speaker 1: like Arthur Weasley everywhere I go in foreign countries because 585 00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:00,560 Speaker 1: I'm just like, I don't understand your lucle money. Hey, however, 586 00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:03,080 Speaker 1: I'll hold out a handful and you take what you 587 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:05,800 Speaker 1: need from me. I don't. I don't get it, especially 588 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:08,920 Speaker 1: if there's a lot of coins involved. I never have 589 00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:12,520 Speaker 1: coins in the US. Never. Yeah, And so in countries 590 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:14,600 Speaker 1: where I just have a lot of coins, I'm staring 591 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:18,520 Speaker 1: at them just helplessly. I'm like, I can't even read 592 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:22,360 Speaker 1: the print on this, it's so tiny. What do you 593 00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:25,320 Speaker 1: And even if I'm kind of familiar, it's just something 594 00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:28,120 Speaker 1: about that moment where your brain goes blank. Yeah, I 595 00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:33,759 Speaker 1: like this one's nickel sized, but I die. Yeah. Yeah. 596 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:38,000 Speaker 1: So thanks to both of them for writing in. You 597 00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:40,120 Speaker 1: two can write to us. We'd love to hear from you. 598 00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:43,280 Speaker 1: Our email is food Stuff at how stuff works dot com. 599 00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:46,440 Speaker 1: We're also on social media. You can find us on 600 00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:50,279 Speaker 1: Facebook and Twitter at food Stuff hs W stands for 601 00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:54,040 Speaker 1: how stuff Works. We're also on Instagram at food Stuff. Yeah. 602 00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:56,759 Speaker 1: We hope to hear from you. Thank you so much 603 00:38:56,920 --> 00:39:00,680 Speaker 1: for listening. Thank you also to our amazing singing producer 604 00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:04,279 Speaker 1: Dylan Fagan and his amazing jazz hands. Uh and uh 605 00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:08,200 Speaker 1: we hope that lots more good things are coming your way.