Enhancing the experience of food and drink via neuroscience-inspired olfactory design

Abstract

Olfactory cues, both orthonasal (when we inhale) and retronasal (when we swallow/breathe out from the back of the nose), play a crucial role in the experience, and enjoyment, of food and drink. However, the design of product packaging glassware, and even plateware has typically not been optimized to deliver the ideal orthonasal hit. This review highlights a number of recent attempts by packaging manufacturers to improve the orthonasal experience for the consumer. The various ways in which modernist chefs, molecular mixologists, culinary artists, and designers have been playing with the delivery of both foreground and background aromas and scents in order to complement the dishes and drinks they serve is also examined. Finally, I highlight some of the ways that technology may be used to deliver food aromas in the future, and stress the need for more research in order to determine whether enhanced olfactory design (e.g. in scent-enabled cutlery and packaging) may one day be used to help nudge consumers toward healthier eating behaviours. The important distinction between natural and synthetic (or better said, between perceived natural vs. perceived synthetic) aromas is also discussed, as this will likely play an important role in determining the future uptake of such innovative olfactory delivery solutions.

Keywords:

• Olfaction
• design
• gastrophysics
• multisensory
• experiential

Notes

1. Retronasal olfaction occurs when volatile odours are pulsed out of the back of the mouth and into the nose when swallowing and breathing out through the nose (see Ni et al. 2015). Olfaction occurs orthonasally when we sniff external aromas from the environment (Rozin 1982; Fincks 1886).

2. Assuming, that is, that the customer doesn’t immediately think that they are being short-changed by a glass that is anything less than full to the brim.

3. On a side note, is it not interesting how little aroma there is in airports? Walk into a rail station or book store and your nostrils will likely be assaulted by the smell of coffee. Airports, by contrast, appear to be olfactorily neutral spaces. Though see Cable (2014) for one intriguing recent exception to the claim that airports are always aroma-free.

4. Note that in ancient Greece or Rome, the fragrance of fresh flowers, perfumed unguents and incense was an essential accompaniment for a successful dinner party (see Classen, Howes, and Synnott 1994, 20–26).

5. I am also reminded here of Per Se, in New York (http://www.thomaskeller.com/per-se) where the staff are banned from wearing any kind of scented product for fear that the smell of their perfume or aftershave might interfere with the diner’s enjoyment of the aroma and flavour of the food (see Damrosch 2008, 22, cf. Peynaud 1987).

6. And going further afield, one might also consider the Hilton Doubletree chain’s use of an aromatic sweet cookie on arrival (and which has a habit of scenting the lobby with a sweet smell) as the ultimate commercialization of food-based scent and flavour marketing (see Spence 2002, 2015c; Spence et al. 2014).

7. This was certainly the response of the guests on the Radio 4 show, The Kitchen Cabinet, when I tried the Aromafork on them early in 2016.

8. That said, I suppose that it is also at least conceivable that people might will one day crave such augmented, or hybrid, aromatic solutions in much the way they came to appreciate metallic taint of their tinned tomatoes (Rosenbaum 1979). When the canning technology improved such that this “fault” could be eliminated from tinned tomatoes, it turned out consumers had actually grown accustomed to the taste, and missed it when it was removed.

9. Synthetic flavours were first introduced in the 1880’s (see Rosenbaum 1979; Wilson 2009). Come the 1960s, one sees the complete replacement of natural flavours by synthetic, at least as illustrated by the following quote: “It’s time to come back to natural flavour. Remember the real taste of luscious golden apricots or ripe juicy pineapples? Your customers do – And they are asking for real flavour. They want ingredients that are natural.” – Ad by H. Kohnstamm & Co 1972 – Food Technology, cited in Baraniuk 2014).

10. It is possible that people will one day crave such augmented, or hybrid, aromatic solutions in much the way they came to appreciate metallic taint of their tinned tomatoes (Rosenbaum 1979). When the canning technology improved such that this “fault” could be eliminated from tinned tomatoes, it turned out that consumers had actually grown accustomed to the taste, and missed it when it was removed.