Fat and Flavour

Oxford Symposium on Food and Cooking, St Antony's College, Oxford, September 2002

The talk comprised two sections. The first was a brief scientific introduction (strictly for non-scientists!) outlining how oil-soluble flavour materials become distributed in the oily and fatty parts of a dish during preparation and cooking, and how these materials are released to the tastebuds on the tongue and palate and to the aroma receptors at the back of the nose as the food is eaten.

In the second part of the talk chef Fritz Blank took the audience through some tasting guides that he had prepared for different dishes (with practical examples and audience participation) while Len Fisher explained what was happening at a scientific level as the dish is chewed, savoured and swallowed, focussing on the role of fat in flavour release.

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