Meet the flavourists - 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute English  from BBC Learning English. I’m Sam.  

And I’m Neil.

In this programme we’re finding out all about food flavours.

Although everyone knows what food they like the taste of,

the science behind flavours is complex.

Flavour involves much more than tasting with the tongue – it’s also influenced by how

food looks, smells, and even how it’s described.

In this programme we’ll be meeting the flavourists – scientists who combine

different natural and artificial ingredients to create the flavours

we love to taste in our food. And of course, we’ll be learning some new

vocabulary as well.

Sounds delicious, Neil, but first I have a question for you. No-one really knows

why, but certain flavours seem to work well together. Some scientists think

classic combinations like  lemon and lime, or strawberries and cream

are so popular is because their chemicals overlap in special ways.

Sometimes this creates new, interesting and unusual flavours. So, what weirdly

popular combination was invented by British chef, Heston Blumenthal?

Was it… a) dark chocolate and sea salt? b) milk chocolate and chilli? or,

c) white chocolate and caviar?

Well, I’ve tried sea salt and chocolate and I think it tastes great, so I’ll say a).

OK, Neil. I’ll reveal the correct  answer at the end of the programme.

Nowadays, the flavour industry is big business. Flavourists work in high-tech

laboratories and every new ice-cream, crisp or toothpaste flavour is the result

of years of scientific research. But it wasn’t always like that.

Here’s food historian, Dr Nadia Berenstein, describing the beginnings of

the flavour industry in the 19th century to Ruth Alexander, presenter of BBC

World Service programme, The Food Chain…

There's really only a handful of people and maybe a dozen or so companies

that are really involved, and at that point they really are kind of working with

secret recipes that were kept very secure, and sometimes passed down

within families from father to son, so it really seemed like a guild structure from

the Middle Ages at that point.

Was it seen as some kind of dark art?

Yes, the term black art does come up in some of the early writing of people who

were producing flavours at this point.

To begin with, there were only around a dozen, that’s twelve, companies

experimenting with food flavours. The recipes they used were kept secret

and only shared with family or trusted friends. Dr Berenstein compares these

companies to a guild - an organization of people who do the same job or have

the same interests.

Because it was so secretive and mysterious, people saw making flavours

as a dark art - a method of  achieving something in a clever but

dishonest or wicked way. But this all changed after the Second World War,

when the invention of processed food which could be bought in supermarkets,

and kept fresh at home in the fridge, increased the demand for new and

exciting flavours.

Here’s Dr Berenstein again, explaining the work of present-day flavourists to

BBC World Service programme, The Food Chain…

So, essentially becoming a flavourist today is still an apprenticeship process.

There's no academic path to it, right. Your training is on-the-job, working

alongside a master flavourist at a flavour and fragrance company, or at

some of the bigger food companies will have their own flavour divisions.

It’s a scientific profession for sure. You have to know a lot about

chemistry, but it is a creative profession. At the very heart of this industrial food

system, there are these craft artisans who are essentially designing molecule

by molecule, the flavours that shape the way food is made to taste.

Today’s flavourists learn their art by serving an apprenticeship –

a period of time spent working  for a skilled master, often for low

payment, in order to learn their skills.

Although a background in chemistry is important, you can’t study flavours at university –

the training happens on-the-job, at your place of work, while you are working.

Dr Berenstein calls flavourists craft artisans – people doing skilled work

with their hands, and she describes their creations as the marriage of science

and art.

Yes, I love the idea of the flavourist as a magician, adding a pinch of this flavour,

or a drop of that oil to create the perfect, magical taste!

I wonder if that’s what British chef, Heston Blumenthal, was trying to do…

In my question, I asked what popular  flavour combination was invented by chef, Heston Blumenthal?

I said it was a) dark chocolate and sea salt. So, was I right?

Well, it’s true that sweet and salty flavours go together well, but

the correct answer was… white chocolate and caviar, a combination

described by Swiss master flavourist,  François Benzi, as “weird

but wonderful”. Right, let’s recap the vocabulary we’ve learned,

starting with a dozen which means twelve.

Something described as a dark art refers to a method of achieving

something in a clever but dishonest way.

A guild is an organization of people who do the same job.

An apprenticeship is the period of time an apprentice spends watching and

working with a skilled master in order to learn their skills.

When you do something on-the-job it happens in the workplace, while you are working.

And finally, an artisan is a person doing  skilled work with their hands.

Once again, our six minutes are up. Bye for now!

Bye!