Although it is known that cultural familiarity, gender or age as well as cost or convenience undoubtedly do influence food choice by the consumer, consumer surveys confirm that the main drivers for food acceptance are aroma and taste. These are, therefore, also the main determinants for the overall differences in the flavor signatures of any given type of food. Maintaining or even improving the flavor signatures of their products is, thus, a constant challenge for food producing companies. Now, what makes a food smell and taste good? It is well established today that during food consumption, a certain set of volatile constituents induces a pattern of neural activity in the olfactory bulb located in the nasal cavity, while preferentially non-volatile constituents interact with the gustatory receptors in the oral cavity. Both perceptions are closely linked, and it is the multimodal stimulation by the set of key odorants and tastants leading to the right receptor code, and this way to the correct perception of the respective food in the brain. Previous research, in particular on food aromas, has led to the identification of more than twelve thousand volatiles suggesting that the �aroma code� of different foods is very complex. Contrary, important taste compounds have scarcely been characterized, and mainly sweet carbohydrates, the sour organic acids and a few bitter alkaloids, such as caffeine are long known as contributors to food taste. To systematically evaluate the key aroma and taste compounds in foods, the Sensomics concept was developed in the past three decades aimed at unraveling the flavor codes of food. Using alcoholic beverages, such as wine and beer, as well as spirits as examples, the lecture will briefly focus on the analytical concept how to identify key food aroma and taste compounds. By comparing the overall flavor codes of fermented alcoholic beverages, it will be shown that a major number of the same compounds contribute to the flavor of the different products, the so-called �generalists�, while a few �specialists� mainly cause the differences in the overall flavor perception.

Unraveling the flavor codes of foods: Is chemistry able to explain differences in the overall flavor perception of fermented alcoholic beverages?

248th National Meeting (2014)

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