Although there is the general impression that taste is something inflexible – you either like it or you don’t – a world authority on flavour and taste, Professor Tony Blake explained to Juan Ameen that it is not so simple.

Flavour, said Prof. Blake, is a construct of the brain.

“If you offer a Japanese person a piece of Gorgonzola cheese he will find it revolting because they do not have any milk-fermented foods in Japan. Marmite is loved by the British but hated by the French – simply because children in Britain grew up with Marmite,” he said.

Prof. Blake was born in Wales and has degrees in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Oxford. For over 40 years, he worked in research, development and marketing for major food companies.

However, in recent years his attention has focused on the psychology of flavour perception and the learning of flavour and food preferences.

Prof. Black is a fellow of the British Society of Flavourists and was presented with the Bill Littlejohn Medal for his contribution to the flavour industry in 2003.

Furthermore, he is an enthusiastic and self-taught chef, as is his colleague, British top chef Heston Blumenthal. Prof. Blake explained that he first met Mr Blumenthal at a conference on molecular and physical gastronomy in Erice, Sicily and they have worked together on strange and wonderful food projects since 2001.

While he was at the University of Nottingham, Prof. Blake carried out a study that analysed people’s breath while they were eating different foods.

“We knew what flavour was registered chemically as an information system but we also asked what was their perception while they were eating – which is not always the same thing,” he explained.

For example, he said, peppermint chewing gum becomes usually tasteless after some time.

“However, when we examined the level of peppermint in chewing gum that had only been chewed for 20 minutes and in one which had been chewed for two hours, it remained the same,” he said.

The concentration of peppermint in the chewing gum does not change, but the concentration of sugar did.

“The taste of peppermint is actually determined – or perceived – by the amount of sugar in the stick of gum. In fact, if it becomes tasteless, all one has to do is dip the gum in sugar to achieve the full taste of the peppermint again,” said Prof. Blake.

In fact, he explained, if one were to eat the plant from which peppermint is extracted, he or she would find it bitter.

“Since we actually learn to associate certain flavours with certain tastes peppermint will always taste sweet. From a very young age, children learn to associate peppermint with a sweet flavour – starting from toothpaste.

Taste is determined not only by the image, taste, odour and texture of the food, but also by a person’s previous eating experiences of that food and the emotional and situational aspects of them.

“If for example, you were fed a particular food by your parents when you are sick, there is a good possibility that you will not like that food later on in life because it will have a negative association,” he said.

Parents have to be careful how to “sell” vegetables to their children, he added.

“Bribing is absolutely out of the question,” said Prof. Blake. “If a mother promises her child ice cream as a reward if he eats his greens it will only backfire. The child will learn to associate the vegetables with something that needs a reward to be eaten and, as a result, will not like them.”

Parents should use reverse psychology and promise a reward of greens only if the children eat their ice cream, he said.

Furthermore, if children refuse to eat their vegetables and their mother makes a fuss, they feel guilty and associate the food with something negative, explained Prof. Blake.

Human beings start developing a taste for particular flavours while they are still in the womb.

“As babies we indirectly start to experience the flavours of the food eaten by our mothers long before we are born, and this has a strong influence on the food preferences we will have after birth,” said Prof. Blake.

When an expectant mother eats a particular food that is fat soluble, it will pass through the bloodstream and into the amniotic fluid, which is absorbed by the baby, he explained.

Prof. Blake mentioned a study carried out on babies that were fed via formula feed, breast or milk substitute, which affected their food preferences.

“It was found that babies that were formula fed had a preference for milk that was slightly acidic, while babies that were breastfed actually preferred whole milk. However, babies that were given the milk substitute – which tastes slightly sour – actually preferred milk with a sour taste as opposed to whole milk,” he said.

Parents, armed with this knowledge, could steer their children to start “liking” healthy foods from a very young age.

“These studies become very relevant in the light of the problem of obesity that many countries, including Malta, are facing,” said Prof. Blake.

“Developments in several very diverse fields within the last 10 years have led to a new understanding of what flavour is, how we become conscious of it and how we develop the flavour preferences we have,” he said.

However, he added, human beings are not limited to liking certain flavours depending on association.

“Taste for a particular flavour can be acquired through a conscious decision. For example when young boys taste beer for the first time they don’t like it. However, because they want to be accepted by the group and seen doing something grown up, they will continue drinking it. Soon after, they will actually start liking the flavour,” said Prof. Blake.

“If a person wants to start drinking coffee without sugar, although they might not like it the first few times, after six or seven times they will like the taste,” he said.

As long as a person wants to like the food, it will be liked – all that is needed is motivation and practice, he argued.

Prof. Blake was presenting a Kitchen Chemistry Training Workshop for Starwood Malta employees. The workshop was organised with the collaboration of Prof. Alfred Vella and Prof. Robert Borg from the Chemistry Department of the University of Malta.

During a lecture at the University, Prof. Blake encouraged chemistry students to move across disciplines, as he did with his studies in chemistry and food flavours.