The Department of Chemistry of the University of Malta and the Chamber of Scientists are organising a fascinating seminar dealing with the learning of human flavour preference, to be led by Professor Anthony Blake from the University of Nottingham, on Wednesday 21 March at 12pm, at the Erin Serracino Inglott Hall on campus (Lecture Theatre 1).

Professor Blake, who was born in Wales and has degrees in chemistry and biochemistry from Oxford University, is a world authority on flavour and taste. His career has spanned four decades, during which he has worked in research, development and marketing for major food companies, as well as lecturing widely on the physiology of taste and related subjects.

He is specifically concerned with studying the interactions between flavour molecules and food matrices and how these relate to flavour encapsulation and release.

In recent years his attention has also focused on the psychology of flavour perception and the learning of flavour and food preferences. In 2001 he was appointed a special professor at the University of Nottingham in its School of Biosciences.

Prof. Blake is a fellow of the British Society of Flavourists and in 2003 was presented with the Bill Littlejohn Medal for his contribution to the flavour industry. He is an enthusiastic and self-taught chef, as is his colleague (British top chef) Heston Blumenthal, whom he first met at a conference on molecular and physical gastronomy in Erice, Sicily. Blake and Heston have been working together on strange and wonderful food projects since 2001.

Dishes such as green tea and lime mousse (which is frozen in liquid nitrogen) and foie gras with a jasmine-flavoured sauce are the result of their collaboration.