1
00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:08,280
In a warm climate, in Florida,


2
00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:10,920
this man is chasing his dream.


3
00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:16,240
He's in pursuit
of the perfect tomato.


4
00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:21,120
There are people
who are growing up today


5
00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:24,360
who have never tasted
a really good tomato,


6
00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:27,880
that don't even know
what a good tomato is


7
00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:30,040
and we need to fix that.


8
00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:37,560
He wanted to create a fruit that
is juicier, tastier and sweeter


9
00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:40,400
than any you're likely to find
on a shelf.


10
00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:45,040
And he's done it.


11
00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:48,760
The reason these tomatoes are sweet


12
00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:52,320
is because of smells he's captured
in these jars.


13
00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,880
So he may have found a way
of making things taste sweeter


14
00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:04,160
without adding any extra sugar.


15
00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:06,880
And that's because of a trick


16
00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:09,520
that happens in your brain.


17
00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:11,320
Now, can you fool the brain?


18
00:01:11,320 --> 00:01:15,120
Can you provide it with sweet
that's safe and that isn't sugar?


19
00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:16,840
I think that's the Holy Grail.


20
00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:24,400
Taste is our most sensuous
and indulgent of senses.


21
00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:30,520
It turns out that the story
of why we like what we like


22
00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,960
is a lot more surprising
than you think.


23
00:01:47,320 --> 00:01:49,360
Food... Mmm, yummy!


24
00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:51,120
SHE CHUCKLES


25
00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:53,480
We all have a favourite food.


26
00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:57,480
All the textures, the flavours,


27
00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:00,960
the smells...and it's just wonderful!


28
00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,160
For some of us, it's sweet.


29
00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:07,720
Chocolate brownie
or rich chocolate torte.


30
00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:10,400
For others, it's savoury.


31
00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,080
I love shellfish
and I love octopus.


32
00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:15,520
That's probably my ideal.


33
00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:19,600
What you love eating
is as unique as a fingerprint.


34
00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:22,800
Cream cheese, like, really fattening
cream cheese, like,


35
00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:25,840
you know, that's just
delicious and that.


36
00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:31,640
Of all our senses, taste is the one
we most associate with pleasure.


37
00:02:31,640 --> 00:02:34,680
Good old apple crumble
and sticky toffee pudding.


38
00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:38,480
Crunchy on the outside
and warm on the inside.


39
00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:43,040
Yet the story of what happens when
you taste is anything but simple.


40
00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:57,880
If you really want to understand
how taste works,


41
00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:02,040
you need an environment far removed
from the clutter of a kitchen.


42
00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,840
Today, a group of people
have come to this lab in Berkshire


43
00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,640
to undergo a rather special test.


44
00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:17,840
They want to find out
whether they have what it takes


45
00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:19,840
to be a professional taster.


46
00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:26,760
Someone who can judge the taste
of the food you might one day eat.


47
00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:30,480
There'll be two parts to the test.


48
00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,800
The first part will be a
familiarisation of the five tastes


49
00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:35,640
and I will give you five samples


50
00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:38,760
and take you through
what these five samples are.


51
00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:42,640
Most of these tastes
are ones we all recognise.


52
00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,280
746 - this one is sweet.


53
00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:53,960
625 - this sample is sour.


54
00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:59,200
Bitter and salty
are also pretty well known.


55
00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:04,920
But the fifth one, savoury,
or umami, is a lot trickier.


56
00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,440
198 - and take a couple of sips,


57
00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:10,120
really focus on this one -


58
00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:11,800
this one is umami.


59
00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:16,920
When it comes to our would-be
professionals,


60
00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:19,200
it's not a familiar one.


61
00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:21,640
There was one, I admit,
that I didn't know.


62
00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:25,360
Um... Mumba...that one.


63
00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:26,840
Is it amani?


64
00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:29,440
That was a bit...
Never heard of that one before.


65
00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:31,600
Never heard of...what is it, umagi?


66
00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:35,360
I don't even know what that is,
but I'm going to find out today.


67
00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:40,680
With the familiarisation over,
the test really starts.


68
00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:44,720
They are given much weaker
versions of the basic five tastes.


69
00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:47,880
They have to work out
which is which.


70
00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:55,560
What makes it so difficult
is that there are no other cues


71
00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:57,560
that we all normally
take for granted -


72
00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:01,640
no colours, textures, smells
to help them decide.


73
00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:06,280
No talking during this test,


74
00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:08,400
it's your own opinions that I want.


75
00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:11,760
746.


76
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:15,360
625.


77
00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:20,560
Already, some candidates
are finding it easier than others.


78
00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:24,080
Bitter and sour are often
the hardest to tell apart.


79
00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:27,640
There were some that I thought
I was OK with,


80
00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:29,960
but, on the whole,
it was quite difficult.


81
00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:33,320
I think the umami was pretty easy
to work out.


82
00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:35,760
Very difficult to distinguish
the flavours,


83
00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:38,560
they were quite slight,
very delicate.


84
00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:41,240
The salty was OK and the sweet.


85
00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:42,760
Bitter was very hard.


86
00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:48,440
But now, tasters have to undergo
a second test


87
00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:50,680
that they weren't expecting.


88
00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:54,320
They will have to identify
a different variety of substances,


89
00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:56,320
but not with their mouths.


90
00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:03,360
They'll be given a variety
ranging from rosemary,


91
00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:04,840
fresh ginger...


92
00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:08,600
..to vanilla.


93
00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:12,720
What I'd like you to do is


94
00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:15,840
write next to the corresponding
three-digit code


95
00:06:15,840 --> 00:06:19,560
what aroma you think is in the tube.


96
00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:23,920
This test will be even harder
than the first.


97
00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:27,320
If you are not entirely sure
what it is that you can smell,


98
00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:29,800
put something down
that it reminds you of


99
00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:31,880
and you still might get a point
for that.


100
00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:37,360
I'm normally the one that says,
"Oh, can you smell that?"


101
00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:39,800
and nobody else can, so let's see.


102
00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:43,360
I think I probably got
about half of them.


103
00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:45,120
I'd say it's pretty good.


104
00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:47,320
Maybe a bit easier than the taste.


105
00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:49,760
It was harder than I thought,
actually.


106
00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:53,680
I haven't actually got the actual
smell, but I know what it's like.


107
00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:59,160
Today, only 5 out of the 14
were found to have the potential


108
00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:00,880
to go on to be a professional.


109
00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:03,760
That's normal for a test like this.


110
00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:07,920
They could be the ones who taste
the food you'll have tomorrow.


111
00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:17,280
I didn't like curry, mushy peas.


112
00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:19,760
Taste is bizarre.


113
00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:22,320
Mushrooms, I couldn't stand them.


114
00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:24,040
Anything like whelks.


115
00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:25,920
I used to be scared of mushrooms.


116
00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:29,360
It doesn't even stay the same.


117
00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:32,440
We all remember foods
we used to hate.


118
00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:38,360
Olives, I tried them a few times
and I hated them.


119
00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:40,520
I hated them!
But they're my favourite now.


120
00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:41,760
SHE CHUCKLES


121
00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:44,400
Liver. I like liver now,
but I hated it then.


122
00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:46,080
I used to hate mushrooms


123
00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:49,480
and now, I can think of nothing
better when it comes to a burger


124
00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:51,560
than a Portobello with pesto.


125
00:07:57,680 --> 00:07:59,280
It's clear that each of us


126
00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:03,640
develops a highly individual set of
likes and dislikes over our lives.


127
00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:09,200
But the process by which you acquire
and change your tastes


128
00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:11,480
is starting to reveal its secrets.


129
00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:18,720
At Birmingham University,


130
00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:21,720
Professor Jackie Blissett has been
trying to understand


131
00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:24,600
the very earliest part
of this process.


132
00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:32,920
Children's eating is
absolutely fascinating.


133
00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:35,720
When you think of the individual
differences that you see


134
00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:38,800
in children's willingness,
for example, to try new foods.


135
00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:42,120
That really drove me to try
and understand a little bit more


136
00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:46,560
about the factors that were
either intrinsic to themselves


137
00:08:46,560 --> 00:08:49,120
or in their environments
that make the difference


138
00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:52,280
between those children who are happy
to taste pretty much anything


139
00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:55,000
and the kids who are really,
really reluctant to try.


140
00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:59,880
When it comes to taste,
you're born with some preferences -


141
00:08:59,880 --> 00:09:01,600
they're intrinsic.


142
00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:08,800
Others happen because of tastes
you experience - your environment.


143
00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:10,840
This way, love.


144
00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:15,600
Jackie is trying to discover
how these two fit together.


145
00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:19,120
This is going to be a really special
tasting again, I think.


146
00:09:20,680 --> 00:09:23,720
The children will be offered
eight different foods.


147
00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:28,080
Some they already know
they don't like...


148
00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:31,040
..others are brand new.


149
00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:36,200
Their challenge is to try
to taste them all.


150
00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:43,080
The first child is Abenna.


151
00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:46,520
Her mother has told Jackie
that she is a picky eater.


152
00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:49,440
Have you ever had those before?


153
00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:50,920
No.


154
00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:54,640
Jackie is interested in why
there are ones she doesn't like.


155
00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:00,680
Which one of those do you think
looks the most yummy?


156
00:10:00,680 --> 00:10:03,120
That! That one looks
the most yummy, why?


157
00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:05,520
The pomegranate, cos I've tasted
them before...


158
00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:07,720
Faced with some unfamiliar sights,


159
00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:09,920
Abenna follows her instincts,


160
00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:11,840
instincts we're all born with,


161
00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:14,120
and goes straight
for something sweet.


162
00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:16,320
Babies, very, very early in life


163
00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:18,600
have this preference
for sweeter taste,


164
00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:22,280
not surprisingly, because the taste
of milk is sweet.


165
00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:24,800
High levels of sweetness, fattiness,


166
00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:29,080
all of these things
indicate good calorie sources.


167
00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:32,200
And then, if you had to choose
another really yummy one...


168
00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:33,920
The figs?


169
00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:35,320
Try it.


170
00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:44,000
The sweet tastes go first, so now
her choice becomes more difficult.


171
00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:47,280
I don't like sprouts...


172
00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:51,800
Again, Abenna's instincts cut in -


173
00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:53,960
she's wary of bitter.


174
00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:56,120
Things like this,
it looks all like...


175
00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:59,960
We are all programmed, really, to
avoid bitter tastes wherever we can,


176
00:10:59,960 --> 00:11:03,120
they might be poisonous, they might
have high levels of toxin.


177
00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:06,400
So bitter tastes are often
very problematic


178
00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:09,440
for parents, in particular,
to introduce to their children.


179
00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:11,360
I don't like mushrooms...


180
00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:14,320
They're all squashed. Oh, squashed.


181
00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:20,280
So far, Abenna is reacting as nature
has programmed her to do -


182
00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:24,360
she's drawn to sweet
and tries to avoid bitter.


183
00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:28,600
But now, another influence
starts to exert itself -


184
00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:30,160
her own experience.


185
00:11:31,560 --> 00:11:34,440
Which one do you think looks
the most yummy now?


186
00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:36,040
SHE CHUCKLES


187
00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:39,200
Oh, it's difficult. Sprouts, cos
I've tasted them before. Sprouts?


188
00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:40,520
Do you want to try it?


189
00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:46,160
They're all right.


190
00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:51,200
She's thinks she's chosen
the least worst option,


191
00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:53,840
but then something
telling happened -


192
00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:58,880
this time, the sprout she thought
she hated tasted fine.


193
00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:01,840
Because she'd been exposed
to the vegetable before,


194
00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:04,600
it overcame her intrinsic
dislike of bitter.


195
00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:12,440
When you see something
like vegetables,


196
00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:15,840
children are going to have
to have a number of exposures


197
00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:19,120
to those vegetables
to find them familiar,


198
00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:20,840
to have tasted them often enough


199
00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:23,720
to have acquired a reasonable
preference for them.


200
00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:28,200
So there isn't a magic,
overnight effect.


201
00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:34,000
It is often a long process
of gradually learning to like


202
00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:37,480
the tastes that aren't
particularly innately preferred.


203
00:12:40,560 --> 00:12:43,880
And this is the key to how
we all develop our tastes -


204
00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:46,920
we develop a liking
if we keep tasting it.


205
00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:52,400
Children at around
two or three years old,


206
00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:54,480
if they're relatively fussy eaters,


207
00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:59,240
those patterns track through
childhood and into adulthood,


208
00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:02,760
so it's absolutely important,
really, really important


209
00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:07,640
that dietary range
is as broad as it can be


210
00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:10,840
before those children
reach that kind of age.


211
00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:12,560
What about this one?


212
00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:14,880
What about the litchi,
have you tried that one before?


213
00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:16,280
But there's another surprise


214
00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:19,920
that may explain why you like
some rather strong tastes.


215
00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:22,040
Even when you're tiny.


216
00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:27,840
If a mother is consuming
a large amount


217
00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:30,200
of something like garlic
when she's pregnant,


218
00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:35,920
we know that that flavour passes
into the amniotic fluid,


219
00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:37,880
and some research has shown


220
00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:42,120
that babies who are exposed
to some specific flavours in utero


221
00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:46,800
actually continue to show
preferences for those flavours
later.


222
00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:48,320
Do you want to give it a little try?


223
00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:52,040
And what's true of garlic may also
be true of chilli and onions.


224
00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:54,240
Do you want to try some now?


225
00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:55,840
Mmm...


226
00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:06,240
What we taste when we're little
has a powerful influence on us.


227
00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:12,520
But scientists have also found your
sensitivity changes as you age.


228
00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:17,680
Your sense of bitter fades.


229
00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:23,160
So those foods you found it
hard to like


230
00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:26,320
can become that bit easier
to start to enjoy.


231
00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:32,640
But it isn't as simple as that
for all of us.


232
00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:43,880
Gainesville, Florida.


233
00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:45,960
This is Professor Linda Bartoshuk.


234
00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:50,320
Linda may not be a household name,


235
00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:52,560
but she's probably done more
in her career


236
00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:54,360
to understand your sense of taste


237
00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:56,360
than anyone else alive.


238
00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:00,360
Food, in the sense of taste,


239
00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:03,000
is very much involved
in our appreciation of life,


240
00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,160
it produces enormous pleasure.


241
00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:11,160
What intrigued Linda was not just
which tastes we each like,


242
00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:14,360
but how strong some of us
seemed to like them.


243
00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:16,720
Why do some people cover their food
with hot sauces


244
00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:19,040
and others never touch them?


245
00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:25,400
When I started working in taste,
and it was a lot of years ago,


246
00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:28,200
we knew a great deal
about observational tastes,


247
00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:30,680
from people cooking, paying attention
to what they ate,


248
00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:33,600
we didn't know very much
about the mechanisms.


249
00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:37,560
She was interested in how sensitive


250
00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:40,120
different people were
to the same food.


251
00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:42,600
It's easy to do a basic test.


252
00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:47,480
If you are adventurous, you can put
the whole thing in your mouth.


253
00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,640
If you want to take it a little
slower, taste the little corner
of the paper,


254
00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:53,080
and if you don't taste it,
put a little bit more in.


255
00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:55,920
Her testing equipment is simple.


256
00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:59,640
A piece of paper soaked
in a very bitter chemical.


257
00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:01,920
I don't really taste anything.


258
00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:04,280
You don't taste it? Very little. OK.


259
00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:06,240
Well, for some, it is.


260
00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:09,960
It's very bitter.


261
00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:14,920
This sort of test has shown
over and over again


262
00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:19,040
that different people
do have different reactions
to the same taste.


263
00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:23,360
Linda wanted to see if there was
an anatomical reason for this.


264
00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:32,800
Her task was daunting.


265
00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:39,200
She had to take an extremely close
look at thousands of tongues.


266
00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:45,040
Taste buds are buried in what
are called fungiform papillae.


267
00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:48,200
They will stand out
when you stain the surface.


268
00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:52,240
But you still have to count them.


269
00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:02,760
Counting papillae is not
the most fun in the world


270
00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:05,160
but the best thing to do
is take a picture.


271
00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:10,560
And if you've got a picture,
you can go back,


272
00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:14,360
look at it, count
and that's what we did.


273
00:17:14,360 --> 00:17:17,840
And indeed the group of people
who were intensely sensitive


274
00:17:17,840 --> 00:17:20,800
actually had more fungiform
papillae.


275
00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:24,160
Those with fewer, tasted less.


276
00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:31,440
Five per six millimetres,
it's that precise,


277
00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:33,800
and you're at the bottom
of the scale.


278
00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:37,680
60 and she has a new name for you -


279
00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:39,240
supertaster.


280
00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:43,760
The people at the end with five


281
00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:48,200
are really having pastel experiences
with taste in food.


282
00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:50,920
The people at the end with 60,


283
00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:53,520
taste in food are neon to them,


284
00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:55,480
they're extremely intense.


285
00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,040
Today, Linda's comparing
the tongues of Jenny,


286
00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:02,000
who's thinks she has a very strong
sense of taste,


287
00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,880
with Derek, who's thinks he hasn't.


288
00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:09,800
If Jenny is a supertaster, she
should be anatomically different.


289
00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:13,840
I look at this screen
and I can tell right away


290
00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:17,160
this is a supertaster tongue,
this is not.


291
00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:20,760
We see many, many more fungiform
papillae here,


292
00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:24,720
many fewer here,
larger here than these.


293
00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,120
And that's typical
of these two groups.


294
00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:30,840
We already know that Jennifer


295
00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:33,360
tastes things more intensely
than Derek,


296
00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:37,160
so I expected her tongue to show that
she's a supertaster and it does.


297
00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:43,200
In fact, around 15% of the people
she studied are supertasters.


298
00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:48,280
But the question is whether
how intensely you taste


299
00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:49,760
affects what you eat.


300
00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:54,880
You know, you might ask, is it better
or worse to be a supertaster?


301
00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:58,360
Well, the truth is, it depends
on what you're asking about.


302
00:18:58,360 --> 00:19:01,320
Supertasters are better off
in some circumstances


303
00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:03,120
and worse off in others.


304
00:19:03,120 --> 00:19:05,680
A supertaster is going to experience
at least three times


305
00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:09,200
the burn from a chilli pepper
as another person.


306
00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:13,880
Smoking and drinking have rather
unpleasant characteristics
to supertasters


307
00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:15,760
and they don't do as much of that.


308
00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:19,160
Bitter is going to be more intense


309
00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,400
and bitter is something
we don't like,


310
00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:23,040
so vegetables tend to be bitter,


311
00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:25,640
supertasters don't eat
as many vegetables.


312
00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:29,720
So what about Linda?


313
00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:35,520
I hate to admit,
as a person working in this area,


314
00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:39,920
that I am about as far away from
a supertaster as you can get.


315
00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:41,520
And I know it's true,


316
00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:45,240
my taste world is pastel,
nothing is terribly strong.


317
00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:49,160
Never in my life have I perceived
anything to be too sweet,


318
00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:51,080
most people can't say that.


319
00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:02,920
So think again
of your favourite meal.


320
00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:08,280
Bread and butter pudding
with a smooth, creamy custard.


321
00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:10,280
That's just divine!


322
00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:13,560
What you like,
you like for good reasons.


323
00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:17,600
Partly, it's because of the
instincts you were born with.


324
00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:19,680
Chocolate, I love chocolate.


325
00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:21,240
Anything sweet.


326
00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:23,880
That's my thing, really.
Sweet things.


327
00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:28,280
Your tastes will be partly
what you ate as a child.


328
00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:33,040
The earliest memory of food
I have in childhood is cake.


329
00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:35,720
They could be partly
because of what your mother ate


330
00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:38,080
before you were even born.


331
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:39,640
I love my chilli.


332
00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:42,360
I like it so that I'm actually
breaking out a bit of a sweat.


333
00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:45,760
I don't know why anyone would like
something that made them cry,
but I do.


334
00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:51,200
But there is something
that shapes your taste


335
00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:54,520
even more than what you're putting
into your mouths.


336
00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:15,560
Molly Birnbaum's has had a lifetime
fascination with food.


337
00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:18,920
In 2005, she was determined


338
00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:22,080
that this interest was something
she wanted to pursue.


339
00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:29,360
When I was in college, I fell in love
with food, with cooking,


340
00:21:29,360 --> 00:21:31,120
with being by the stove,


341
00:21:31,120 --> 00:21:35,160
with bringing people together
into my kitchen and feeding them.


342
00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:39,200
I read more cookbooks than I did
textbooks, I was obsessed.


343
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:42,000
I knew that's what I wanted to be -
a chef.


344
00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:47,840
Molly got her first job as a trainee
and was in her element.


345
00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:53,200
I would get home,
in the wee hours of the morning,


346
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:55,960
smelling like veal stock and butter


347
00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:59,400
and the fat from the deep fryer,


348
00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:00,840
but I loved it.


349
00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:03,280
I knew I wanted to spend the rest
of my life doing it.


350
00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:05,160
She had found her purpose.


351
00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,480
And was about to enrol in the
Culinary Institute of America.


352
00:22:12,360 --> 00:22:13,920
This is what I wanted to do,


353
00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,640
this was the first of many steps
towards becoming a chef,


354
00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:18,240
something that I loved


355
00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:20,760
and knew I wanted to spend
the rest of my life doing.


356
00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:24,400
But then, one morning in August,
I went for a jog.


357
00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:29,040
It was a drizzly morning, it was an
early morning and I was hit by a car.


358
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:34,200
Molly had multiple injuries,


359
00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:37,840
including a broken pelvis
and a fractured skull.


360
00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:46,600
Slowly, her body began to heal.


361
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:50,560
But the head trauma she had suffered
started to reveal other damage.


362
00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:57,240
It was a month before I realised
that something else was wrong.


363
00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:01,960
And that happened when my stepmother,
Cindy, baked an apple crisp.


364
00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:05,080
It's one of my favourite desserts.


365
00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:07,080
The scent of that dessert is just


366
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:09,560
one of the most beautiful things,
I think, that exists,


367
00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:11,600
with the cinnamon and the butter
and the fruit.


368
00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:13,760
But when she pulled it out
of the oven,


369
00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:16,920
everyone in the room was oohing
and ahing over this smell


370
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:21,120
and she held it underneath my face
so I could inhale


371
00:23:21,120 --> 00:23:26,000
and I could feel the steam in my
nose, which was warm and thick,


372
00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:28,520
but there was no smell whatsoever.


373
00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:35,920
In that moment, she realised
she had lost her sense of smell.


374
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:42,640
I could feel the texture
of the crisp berry topping,


375
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:44,400
I could feel the temperature,


376
00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:49,160
and I could just feel them in my
mouth, this mush, sweet mush.


377
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,440
But everything that made it
apple crisp,


378
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:57,240
the flavour that I loved and
recognised and remembered, was gone.


379
00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:59,360
It was just nothingness.


380
00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:03,080
In fact, her sense of taste
was not damaged.


381
00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:05,920
So she could taste sweet and sour,
for instance.


382
00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:07,960
But because she couldn't smell,


383
00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:10,480
there was no flavour to enjoy.


384
00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:17,360
I relied on texture, on temperature,
on the visuals of food.


385
00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:22,560
Two bowls of ice cream,
chocolate and vanilla,


386
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:25,880
without looking at the colour, they
would taste exactly the same to me.


387
00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:31,960
Eating meat was flavourless,
texture blob,


388
00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:35,120
some of it felt like
eating cardboard.


389
00:24:37,120 --> 00:24:41,080
I put hot sauce on anything
and everything,


390
00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:43,720
because it at least gave me tingles,


391
00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:46,360
which was better than nothing.


392
00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:49,480
But I was uninterested in all of it.


393
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,600
When Molly lost the ability
to make the connection


394
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:00,440
between the worlds of her senses


395
00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:05,120
and the memories that had gone
with them, she felt lost.


396
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:11,560
I missed the smells of food


397
00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:13,880
that my mother cooked
when I was a child.


398
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:18,440
I missed the smells of foods
and dishes, and places and people


399
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,040
that reminded me of my past,


400
00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:25,000
because smell, I very quickly
realised, is so tied to our memory,


401
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,160
our emotional memories,


402
00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:28,720
and I wondered who I would be


403
00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:31,800
if I could no longer make
those memories for the future.


404
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:44,200
The simple truth is that what
most of us think of as taste


405
00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:46,240
is, in fact, smell.


406
00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:52,920
How taste and aroma come together
to become the flavours we enjoy


407
00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:55,520
is at the forefront of research.


408
00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:02,160
Your system of smell
is actually made of two parts.


409
00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:05,520
Both operate whenever you eat,
say, a strawberry.


410
00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:10,200
The first thing I do when I'm going
to eat this strawberry -


411
00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:13,120
smell it, you get a wonderful
strawberry bouquet,


412
00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:14,360
put it in my mouth.


413
00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:18,440
When something is in your mouth
and you start chewing,


414
00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,360
compounds called volatiles
are released.


415
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:24,640
I'm chewing...


416
00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:29,040
..and swallowing forces the volatiles
up behind my palette


417
00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:30,640
and into my nose.


418
00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:37,960
The aroma that comes through
our nose is called orthonasal smell.


419
00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:42,800
The smell system in your throat
and mouth - retronasal.


420
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:49,400
Finally, all these signals
come together in your brain.


421
00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:52,160
It's a brain construction.


422
00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:57,480
The brain sends it to an area
that also gets taste.


423
00:26:57,480 --> 00:26:59,480
They interact and that's flavour.


424
00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:05,760
The flavours we experience
are unique to us,


425
00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:08,760
they are subjective,
we can't share them.


426
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:11,880
I can't experience a strawberry
through your senses,


427
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:13,680
only through my own.


428
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:20,960
So your sense of flavour
doesn't really happen


429
00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:22,920
in your tongue or your nose,


430
00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:24,560
but in your brain.


431
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:27,920
And that's why it connects
to your emotion and your memory.


432
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:33,800
When Molly lost that connection,
it was to Linda that she had turned.


433
00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:41,560
You really have to understand
that this loss that Molly suffered


434
00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:44,240
is devastating to your life.


435
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:47,840
And it happens...it makes people
miserable when it happens.


436
00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:52,440
But Linda could only offer sympathy,


437
00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:54,600
she had no remedy.


438
00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:58,480
No-one was expecting what happened
to Molly some months later.


439
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:13,360
I was alone in the kitchen,


440
00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:17,600
I had a bunch of fresh rosemary,
the herb, and I was chopping it.


441
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,720
Then, all of a sudden,
there was this scent.


442
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:38,280
And it just took over my entire
head, it took over my brain,


443
00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:41,080
it was earthy and herby,


444
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:43,640
and, immediately, it reminded me
of a moment in my childhood


445
00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:46,040
when I had gone horseback riding
out west


446
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:48,160
and there must have been
rosemary bushes.


447
00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:52,120
But it just this incredibly
powerful rosemary scent.


448
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,440
And I remember I looked around,
I was just like,


449
00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:01,240
"Oh, my God, it's back, it's here,
it's this!"


450
00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:05,880
No-one's quite sure
how this happened.


451
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:08,160
But, somehow, the olfactory nerves


452
00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:11,600
linking her smell to her brain
became active again.


453
00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:17,160
And slowly, she started to recover
her smell and her memories.


454
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:21,640
Some of the first ones to come back
after rosemary


455
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:23,760
were ones that meant a lot to me.


456
00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:27,160
Chocolate was one of the first
things that I could smell.


457
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:33,280
The sweet grape scent of wine,
I could smell.


458
00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:37,120
Foods that I gained
most pleasure from


459
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:40,440
and they were related
to emotion, to my past,


460
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:42,280
to happy moments in my life.


461
00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:51,320
I felt that my nose was doing the
good fight to get those back first.


462
00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:04,760
Molly's experience of regaining
a rich and deep sense of taste


463
00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,480
also underlies how, for each of us,


464
00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:12,040
our sense of taste is connected
to our emotional experiences.


465
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:17,440
Emotions and memories
reinforce taste pathways


466
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:19,240
and connections in our brains.


467
00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:24,760
Memories from childhood
are often the strongest.


468
00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:32,800
I was about five or six, watching my
mum prepare stuffed vine leaves.


469
00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:35,880
You could smell the lamb
wafting through the house


470
00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:40,360
and sometimes, I used to go down and
sneak one when she wasn't looking.


471
00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:42,560
There was five of us,
all sat round the table


472
00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,000
and my mum used to put this big dish
in the middle


473
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,800
and we all used to have
a bit of Yorkshire pudding.


474
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:53,920
But for some of us, that pleasure
has started to control us.


475
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:55,600
I'm a bit of a chocoholic, you see.


476
00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:57,960
So I enjoy chocolate,
milk chocolate,


477
00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:00,920
chocolate with nuts in,
everything like that.


478
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:05,360
Once you eat it, you get these
brain waves and you think,


479
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:07,960
"Oh, this is really nice.
Go and get another one."


480
00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:09,600
You know, "I want more of this."


481
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:12,600
It's quite pathetic, really,


482
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:16,080
that a grown woman, who can hold down
a job and look after two children,


483
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:19,040
can't go to bed if there's a bar
of chocolate in the fridge,


484
00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:21,520
but that's just the way it is,
I can't.


485
00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:26,480
Now, a growing number of researchers
are starting to wonder


486
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:30,440
if our understanding of taste
could have a practical use.


487
00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:34,160
If we could use it
to trick ourselves


488
00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:36,800
into liking less unhealthy foods.


489
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:44,160
And at the forefront of this work
is one substance - sugar.


490
00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:01,800
In downtown Chicago, something
rather bizarre is happening.


491
00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:07,640
It's taking place
in a gourmet kitchen.


492
00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:13,760
The man behind the vision is
award-winning chef Homaro Cantu,


493
00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:17,240
who is taking a rather unexpected
approach to food.


494
00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:20,560
What we'll never get rid of


495
00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:23,960
is the demand for sweets,
for fatty foods,


496
00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:26,640
for foods that, you know,
degrade our health.


497
00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:31,440
We need to make food that tastes
good, that's healthy for us,


498
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:33,040
that tastes like junk food.


499
00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:37,760
When I grew up, we were homeless
for three years


500
00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:40,240
and we went from homeless shelter
to homeless shelter.


501
00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:42,920
And the food that we had there
was leftover junk food


502
00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:46,960
and, even to this day, I still love
that food, it's delicious.


503
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:49,960
Inspired by his childhood memories,


504
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:52,320
Homaro has a mission -


505
00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:56,000
to find a way of reducing
the amount of sugar we eat,


506
00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:58,120
but without giving up sweet foods.


507
00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:03,640
We're attacking just one small part
of the obesity epidemic,


508
00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:07,240
we are just trying to get desserts
to be made without sugar


509
00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:10,200
and we want them to taste better
than the real thing.


510
00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:17,360
At the heart of his plan
is one small African berry.


511
00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:20,600
Its potential to turn
sour into sweet


512
00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:23,760
has been known about for centuries,


513
00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:25,000
but there's a snag.


514
00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:30,960
This is freeze-dried miracle berry.


515
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:34,680
This has a value
of probably around 400.


516
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:36,360
This little thing right here,


517
00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:39,240
it's more expensive than truffles.


518
00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:41,480
And this is where he has a secret.


519
00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:45,520
What we do is we have
to turn it into this.


520
00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:51,080
It's basically hundreds of times
cheaper than that.


521
00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,120
But it does the same exact thing.


522
00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:55,080
We add secret ingredients to it


523
00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:59,040
and what we are going to do here
is just, you know,


524
00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:01,480
tell you basically what this does.


525
00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:06,640
The power of the berry powder is
that within minutes of eating it,


526
00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:09,680
foods containing acid
will taste really sweet.


527
00:34:11,240 --> 00:34:14,120
So first, you eat the powder, pause


528
00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:17,600
and then any bitter citric
flavour you eat afterwards


529
00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:19,720
will be transformed
into a sweet one.


530
00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:23,160
I like to describe it like this -


531
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:25,600
not only is it the sweetest lemon
that you've ever had,


532
00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:28,120
it's the tastiest lemon
you've ever had.


533
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:46,360
Each evening,
the miracle berry sensation


534
00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:48,640
will be part of the guests'
experience.


535
00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:51,480
But when they arrive,
they know nothing of this.


536
00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:57,280
This is the real deal -
you are going to eat something


537
00:34:57,280 --> 00:34:59,880
and then the flavours change
while it's in your mouth.


538
00:34:59,880 --> 00:35:02,760
That's a whole new world
in gastronomy


539
00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:04,640
that's never been tapped into.


540
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:08,720
It's like the real Willy Wonka
part of food.


541
00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:11,720
You know, we've heard a lot about
Willy Wonka and science and food,


542
00:35:11,720 --> 00:35:13,560
but that's all child play


543
00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:17,320
compared to what happens when
you flavour trip at iNG Restaurant.


544
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:26,120
Tonight, the dessert
is course number six.


545
00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:30,040
This is when the guests are
introduced to the star of the show -


546
00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:31,080
the berry.


547
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:33,800
Basically, what we give
to the diners,


548
00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:35,840
we'll just give them a little spoon
of this,


549
00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:38,840
they will eat that,
it'll take about 60 seconds.


550
00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:40,560
Once the lemon tastes sweet,


551
00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:43,360
then they keep eating whatever
they're eating.


552
00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:48,920
The dessert is sugar-free and bland,


553
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:51,200
but after eating the miracle
berry powder,


554
00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:54,440
the hope is it will taste sweet
and interesting.


555
00:35:56,960 --> 00:35:59,960
In the centre here, you have the
miracle berry in its powdered form.


556
00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:03,440
What you do, you take the powder,
put all of it onto your tongue,


557
00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:06,120
let it soak into your palate.
Once it's completely dissolved,


558
00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:08,440
take a bite of the lemon
and if it tastes like lemonade,


559
00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:10,240
that means it's working.


560
00:36:10,240 --> 00:36:12,720
Once the powder is sitting
on the tongue,


561
00:36:12,720 --> 00:36:15,040
it needs to be combined with acid.


562
00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:17,720
Acid makes the sweet receptors
pucker up


563
00:36:17,720 --> 00:36:21,080
and our perception of sweetness
explode.


564
00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:24,120
It's sweeter now!


565
00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:27,720
The berries contain a chemical,


566
00:36:27,720 --> 00:36:31,600
a glycoprotein that's been called
miraculin.


567
00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:33,720
This changes shape with acid,


568
00:36:33,720 --> 00:36:36,440
enhancing the sweet receptors
so powerfully


569
00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:38,400
that it drowns out the sour.


570
00:36:40,240 --> 00:36:41,880
Oh, wow!


571
00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:45,280
It just... Boom!
It just wakes you up.


572
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:46,800
Oh, that's nice.


573
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:48,360
This feels good,


574
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:51,600
it doesn't, like, roll me off
the back of the chair.


575
00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:55,000
It's good! I like it.


576
00:36:56,400 --> 00:36:58,960
Clearly, the berry gets a reaction,


577
00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:02,080
but there's the problem of the gap.


578
00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:05,280
You have to eat the powder
before the food.


579
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:06,920
If you combine them,


580
00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:09,880
the science suggests
that you'll lose the effect.


581
00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:14,520
The problem here is that you
have to eat this berry


582
00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:17,440
and then you drink your soda
or you eat your cookie.


583
00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:20,040
You know, that's for a small group
of people,


584
00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:21,680
like, diabetics would do that.


585
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:24,560
But what about, you know,
a six-year-old kid?


586
00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:26,640
They don't care what's going on
on their tongue,


587
00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:28,160
they just want their cookie.


588
00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:31,160
So what we're going to solve
is just that.


589
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:33,400
We're going to put the berry
in the cookie,


590
00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:36,000
so, that way, when you eat it,
it tastes sweet,


591
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,680
but there's no glucose in this cookie
whatsoever.


592
00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:43,560
Do you think you're going to be able
to do that? It is quite a difficult
thing to do, isn't it?


593
00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:46,360
Uh... We've already done it.
We've done it on a small scale,


594
00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:49,280
and now we need to take it
to the next level.


595
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:51,440
Just because I can make something
in a lab,


596
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:53,720
it doesn't mean that it's ready
for prime time.


597
00:37:53,720 --> 00:37:55,760
So that's our next step.


598
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,480
This challenge of tricking
our taste,


599
00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:21,200
luring us away from the seduction
of sugar, is being taken up.


600
00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:24,160
Working in a quiet corner
of Florida,


601
00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:27,920
Professor Harry Klee had come up
with his own plan.


602
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:32,240
A plan that was to have implications
that he could not have imagined.


603
00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:37,760
He began his quest
not in the present,


604
00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:40,480
but by delving back into our past.


605
00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:44,520
It's kind of the reverse
of what we normally do in science.


606
00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:49,720
We're going back 150 years
to recapture what was lost.


607
00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:55,520
Harry was casting back
to a bygone age


608
00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:58,520
to help with our contemporary
problem with eating.


609
00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:05,960
There's no doubt there's a problem
with obesity in the developed world.


610
00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:07,920
We are eating junk foods,


611
00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:13,640
because we don't have foods that are
healthy for us that taste as good.


612
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:17,200
He started by looking at
the fruit we eat -


613
00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:20,200
crops, he believes, are increasingly
grown for shelf life,


614
00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:21,960
not for flavour.


615
00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:24,600
He decided to focus on one plant.


616
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:30,120
There are people who are
growing up today


617
00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:33,320
who have never tasted
a really good tomato,


618
00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:36,600
that don't even know
what a good tomato is


619
00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:38,680
and we need to fix that.


620
00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:45,920
What inspired him to choose tomatoes


621
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:48,520
was a chance finding
in an old bookstore.


622
00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:55,960
I found this reference in a very old
book from 1906 to these varieties


623
00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:57,880
that kind of stirred my interest


624
00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:00,240
and I said, "Well,
it'd be really neat


625
00:40:00,240 --> 00:40:02,280
"if we could find these varieties,


626
00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:05,160
"and grow them and see
what they taste like."


627
00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:12,360
Harry set off on a massive
tomato trail.


628
00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:14,400
He sent off to seed banks,


629
00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:18,080
he even followed up on people's
personal preferences.


630
00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:22,680
We got large, round, red ones,


631
00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:25,080
we got oblong yellow ones,


632
00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:27,360
we got green and black ones.


633
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,400
We knocked on every door we could


634
00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:31,520
and checked every website


635
00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:34,400
and collected several hundred
of these varieties


636
00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:37,320
from all different sources
around the world.


637
00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:43,360
Logistically, this has been
an absolute nightmare,


638
00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:45,960
trying to grow these plants up.


639
00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:51,200
Some of the plants do really well,
some of them do really badly,


640
00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:55,440
some of the really good plants
give lousy fruit and you just wonder,


641
00:40:55,440 --> 00:40:59,320
"What did people see in this
tomato that they actually saved it?"


642
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:05,840
After two of years of research,


643
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:08,800
they'd recovered 200 lost varieties.


644
00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:11,360
They then set out to understand
the chemistry


645
00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:13,960
that made the good ones
taste the way they did.


646
00:41:18,720 --> 00:41:21,280
We knew that sugars were going
to be important


647
00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:23,760
and we knew that acids
were going to be important


648
00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:27,880
and we knew that the gaseous
compounds that you smell,


649
00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:29,520
what we call volatiles,


650
00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:33,000
some of them were going
to be important.


651
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:35,520
But we really didn't have an idea


652
00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:40,800
which ones would really drive people
to like or dislike a tomato.


653
00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:49,120
Harry's quest began.


654
00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:51,520
Understanding the role of the sugars
and acids


655
00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:53,720
would be the straightforward part.


656
00:41:53,720 --> 00:41:56,440
Finding out whether the volatiles
would be important


657
00:41:56,440 --> 00:41:59,040
and, if so, which, would be tricky.


658
00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:07,280
As it turned out,
this knowledge of volatiles


659
00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:10,840
was going to have implications
way beyond tomatoes.


660
00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:17,680
But by the end of the process,


661
00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:20,480
what Harry noticed was
the sheer wealth of detail


662
00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:21,880
that he was collecting.


663
00:42:23,200 --> 00:42:26,880
There was incredible variation
from tomato to tomato.


664
00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:30,400
Far, far greater than we ever
expected for the different varieties.


665
00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:34,600
We'd see a hundred or a thousand
fold differences sometimes


666
00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:38,040
between different varieties,
in some of these chemicals.


667
00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:46,560
Armed with this new knowledge,
Harry set up trials.


668
00:42:48,560 --> 00:42:52,800
100 volunteers were recruited
and asked to rate the tomatoes.


669
00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:56,400
Which ones did they like best


670
00:42:56,400 --> 00:43:00,480
and what was it about the tomatoes
that they liked or disliked?


671
00:43:04,200 --> 00:43:07,200
One of the things that we learned
early on was that


672
00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:10,480
sweetness is a huge component
of a good-tasting tomato.


673
00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:12,040
People like sweet.


674
00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:16,800
Harry then looked at the chemistry
of these favoured tomatoes,


675
00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:19,360
chosen largely
because of their sweetness.


676
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:23,560
And a pattern started to emerge.


677
00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:26,880
What was really surprising to us


678
00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:30,440
was that certain volatile chemicals


679
00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:34,520
were actually making
those fruits taste sweeter


680
00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:37,160
than the amount of sugar
that was in them.


681
00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:40,440
What we found was
things that we smell


682
00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:43,720
were enhancing the perception
on our tongue.


683
00:43:43,720 --> 00:43:45,920
And that was unexpected.


684
00:43:45,920 --> 00:43:49,920
In other words - our sense of smell
means that two tomatoes


685
00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:54,520
with the same amount of sugar
could taste very different to us.


686
00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:57,480
If one of those tomatoes
has more volatiles,


687
00:43:57,480 --> 00:43:59,440
it could taste much sweeter.


688
00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:04,000
These volatiles were intriguing.


689
00:44:07,400 --> 00:44:09,160
I have a few of them right here.


690
00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:10,840
This first one - geranial.


691
00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:15,280
To me, it smells like flowers,
perfume...


692
00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:18,640
It's not a bad smell, it doesn't
smell anything like a tomato.


693
00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:20,240
It doesn't smell sweet.


694
00:44:21,840 --> 00:44:26,000
One of the volatiles that was a huge
surprise was this one here -


695
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:28,440
isovaleric acid.


696
00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:30,720
This is a really nasty chemical,


697
00:44:30,720 --> 00:44:32,760
most of the people in my lab
describe it


698
00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:35,160
as the smell of dirty socks
or a locker room.


699
00:44:38,720 --> 00:44:40,880
It's really terrible


700
00:44:40,880 --> 00:44:43,640
and you smell this
and you can think of...


701
00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:49,040
..men running around naked
with their underwear


702
00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:52,960
and yet, this turns out to be
a really important chemical


703
00:44:52,960 --> 00:44:56,760
that's contributing
to the perception of sweetness.


704
00:44:56,760 --> 00:44:59,360
Not a single one of them
smells like tomato,


705
00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:03,040
not a single one of them
particularly smells...


706
00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:05,440
anything like a food product even


707
00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:08,480
and yet, it's the combination
of all of those chemicals


708
00:45:08,480 --> 00:45:11,840
that make the tomato smell
the way it smells


709
00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:14,720
and make it taste the way it tastes.


710
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:23,960
Harry now knew which
of the ancient, heirloom tomatoes
were the sweet ones.


711
00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:26,720
He knew they were the ones
with extra volatiles.


712
00:45:26,720 --> 00:45:29,600
But they were really hard to grow.


713
00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:31,760
What he wondered was,


714
00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:34,440
could he cross-breed
these old, sweet favourites


715
00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:38,280
with the hardy modern tomato
to get the best of both worlds?


716
00:45:43,720 --> 00:45:47,360
Can we take those varieties
that people really like


717
00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:50,040
but are just horrible to grow?


718
00:45:50,040 --> 00:45:55,520
Can we very quickly turn those into
something that still tastes great,


719
00:45:55,520 --> 00:45:59,440
but actually has some performance
of a modern variety.


720
00:46:02,680 --> 00:46:05,480
Two years later, he had the result.


721
00:46:06,880 --> 00:46:10,400
It was hardy
and, he thought, delicious.


722
00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:13,200
Now, it was all down
to the consumers.


723
00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:19,000
Much to our shock, people said,


724
00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:21,280
"Hey, we like these just as much.


725
00:46:21,280 --> 00:46:23,680
"They're just as good
as the heirlooms."


726
00:46:23,680 --> 00:46:25,640
And we're thinking, "This is great!"


727
00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:28,760
Because these things make
five times as much fruit


728
00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:31,720
and the fruit are so much healthier


729
00:46:31,720 --> 00:46:35,360
and the plants are so much healthier
and they taste just as good.


730
00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:42,280
But now, Harry's success with
tomatoes gave him another idea.


731
00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:45,080
Something that he had never
set out to do.


732
00:46:45,080 --> 00:46:47,480
What if he could take
these volatiles,


733
00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:49,520
nature's natural sweeteners,


734
00:46:49,520 --> 00:46:52,320
and use them in cakes or desserts?


735
00:46:57,160 --> 00:46:58,680
The next logical step is,


736
00:46:58,680 --> 00:47:01,200
"Well, what happens if we take a food


737
00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:04,840
"that has sugar, that's desirable
because it's sweet,


738
00:47:04,840 --> 00:47:08,360
"what if we take some
of that sugar out


739
00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:10,360
"and replace it with these volatiles


740
00:47:10,360 --> 00:47:13,960
"that synergize to make it taste
just as sweet,


741
00:47:13,960 --> 00:47:15,680
"with less sugar in it?"


742
00:47:15,680 --> 00:47:17,400
And if we do that,


743
00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:20,760
then we have the potential
to take foods and improve them.


744
00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:28,480
Harry's work on tomatoes could lead


745
00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:33,000
to a natural, calorie-free,
sweet alternative to sugar.


746
00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:37,680
It's a bold idea,
but he has been developing it


747
00:47:37,680 --> 00:47:41,080
with the most pre-eminent scientist
in taste.


748
00:47:45,560 --> 00:47:47,080
We found a lot of volatiles


749
00:47:47,080 --> 00:47:49,800
that were adding to the sweetness
of the tomato


750
00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:52,840
and had nothing to do with the sugar
content of the tomato.


751
00:47:52,840 --> 00:47:56,680
So, all of a sudden,
we've got volatiles creating sweet.


752
00:47:56,680 --> 00:47:59,160
Together, they've been
preparing tests


753
00:47:59,160 --> 00:48:02,240
to see how they can apply this
to other sugary foods.


754
00:48:05,240 --> 00:48:08,000
So far, it looks like
it's going to work.


755
00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:10,760
We have to do all the experiments
indicated -


756
00:48:10,760 --> 00:48:13,640
take it out, put it in something
else and see if it has an effect.


757
00:48:13,640 --> 00:48:15,080
But the truth is,


758
00:48:15,080 --> 00:48:18,840
I think the chances are that
this is going to work broadly


759
00:48:18,840 --> 00:48:21,240
in a lot of different foods
and beverages.


760
00:48:23,320 --> 00:48:26,360
It's possible that
what started out as a mission


761
00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:28,280
to promote the humble tomato,


762
00:48:28,280 --> 00:48:32,440
could actually help our troubled
relationship with sugar.


763
00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:37,000
In theory, the things
that we're doing


764
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:40,080
with the volatile enhancement
of sweetness


765
00:48:40,080 --> 00:48:44,160
could apply to fruit juices,
could apply to desserts,


766
00:48:44,160 --> 00:48:49,000
could apply to almost any food
where you are combining products.


767
00:48:49,000 --> 00:48:54,200
There's no reason that we can't make
something taste just as sweet


768
00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:56,440
with less sugar in it.


769
00:48:56,440 --> 00:48:59,480
You could see that very soon.


770
00:48:59,480 --> 00:49:03,960
That could impact some of the
products that are sold today.


771
00:49:06,720 --> 00:49:08,600
Our brains tell us to eat sugar,


772
00:49:08,600 --> 00:49:10,280
they tell us to go after sweet.


773
00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:11,800
It's hardwired in the brain.


774
00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:13,800
Now, can you fool the brain?


775
00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:17,400
Can you provide it with sweet
that's safe and that isn't sugar?


776
00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:19,120
I think that's the Holy Grail.


777
00:49:36,160 --> 00:49:39,440
Looking for different ways
to trick our sense of taste


778
00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:42,800
has become an active area
of scientific research.


779
00:49:42,800 --> 00:49:46,000
Although the very idea
of manipulating what we eat,


780
00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:49,880
even to make us healthy,
raises obvious concerns.


781
00:49:51,400 --> 00:49:53,560
But even if it can be done,


782
00:49:53,560 --> 00:49:55,800
there's another hurdle to cross


783
00:49:55,800 --> 00:49:59,320
and that leads us
into a different science -


784
00:49:59,320 --> 00:50:00,960
the science of us.


785
00:50:17,360 --> 00:50:21,640
It's 6am at the Smithsonian Zoo,
in Washington.


786
00:50:21,640 --> 00:50:23,400
And time for breakfast.


787
00:50:29,920 --> 00:50:32,920
Preparing and delivering
the right meal for each animal


788
00:50:32,920 --> 00:50:34,280
for the day ahead.


789
00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:41,600
Good morning, lion, tiger.
Your diets have been delivered.


790
00:50:41,600 --> 00:50:42,760
Have a good day.


791
00:50:49,280 --> 00:50:52,080
Nutrition to wolf keeper.
Your diets have been dropped off.


792
00:50:52,080 --> 00:50:53,240
Have a good day.


793
00:50:58,480 --> 00:51:01,520
Animal scientist and nutritionist
Michael Power


794
00:51:01,520 --> 00:51:03,920
knows exactly what each animal
receives.


795
00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:08,080
Animals with their food preference


796
00:51:08,080 --> 00:51:10,920
have evolved over long periods
of time.


797
00:51:10,920 --> 00:51:13,000
When you bring animals
into captivity,


798
00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:15,080
you have a responsibility to them.


799
00:51:15,080 --> 00:51:18,280
We have to give them
a selection and choice,


800
00:51:18,280 --> 00:51:20,960
while we also make sure
the nutrition is right.


801
00:51:26,520 --> 00:51:28,640
This means they have
to put together a diet


802
00:51:28,640 --> 00:51:31,200
that resembles what
they've evolved to eat.


803
00:51:33,880 --> 00:51:37,320
We too were once
on the same evolutionary path,


804
00:51:37,320 --> 00:51:39,160
but we've branched off.


805
00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:42,840
We, as a species, have actually
changed the fact


806
00:51:42,840 --> 00:51:46,560
that we're capable of manipulating
our environment and changing things


807
00:51:46,560 --> 00:51:49,760
and actually, making our external
environment more like we want it,


808
00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:51,280
as opposed to the way it is.


809
00:51:52,560 --> 00:51:56,840
We know we've evolved to prefer
high-fat and high-sugar foods,


810
00:51:56,840 --> 00:52:00,480
but, in nature, they never occur
together in one food.


811
00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:05,360
Bananas are high in sugar
but are fat-free,


812
00:52:05,360 --> 00:52:07,920
avocadoes are the opposite.


813
00:52:07,920 --> 00:52:11,160
We can now put those all together
in the same thing.


814
00:52:11,160 --> 00:52:12,720
You come up with a candy bar


815
00:52:12,720 --> 00:52:15,560
with, like, salty nuts in it
and nice fat in there


816
00:52:15,560 --> 00:52:18,800
and lots of sugar and chocolate
all over and everything.


817
00:52:24,360 --> 00:52:26,680
We only have to think about it.
We simply say,


818
00:52:26,680 --> 00:52:29,400
"Well, what do we want?"
That's all we have to worry about.


819
00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:31,680
What do we want
and what's easy to get.


820
00:52:31,680 --> 00:52:35,760
Also, the speed at which we have
changed our environment


821
00:52:35,760 --> 00:52:40,240
means that we have not evolved
to deal with the endless supply.


822
00:52:40,240 --> 00:52:43,000
Our ancestors never needed
to know when to stop,


823
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:47,120
because there were always times
when food was scarce.


824
00:52:47,120 --> 00:52:51,680
We never evolved a protective
barrier against too much,


825
00:52:51,680 --> 00:52:53,960
because there never was
too much before.


826
00:52:53,960 --> 00:52:57,120
The external environment
put the barrier on


827
00:52:57,120 --> 00:53:01,240
and now, though, we can produce
too much and we love it.


828
00:53:04,160 --> 00:53:07,440
And so would all the animals
in the zoo.


829
00:53:07,440 --> 00:53:11,400
Given a chance,
they'd choose a diet like ours,


830
00:53:11,400 --> 00:53:14,520
only the zoo doesn't let them.


831
00:53:15,960 --> 00:53:20,640
In a sense, what you look at is
the animals in the zoo are probably
in general getting a better diet


832
00:53:20,640 --> 00:53:23,240
than most of the people
who come to watch them.


833
00:53:25,120 --> 00:53:27,560
And this is the puzzle.


834
00:53:27,560 --> 00:53:32,800
Why do we willingly eat too much
of the food we know is bad for us?


835
00:53:37,840 --> 00:53:41,200
There's been years and years
of study, trying to figure out


836
00:53:41,200 --> 00:53:46,680
what controls our appetite,
how can we control what we eat.


837
00:53:46,680 --> 00:53:49,680
And all of it basically revolves
around looking at it


838
00:53:49,680 --> 00:53:51,200
from a nutritional basis.


839
00:53:51,200 --> 00:53:53,360
The problem with human beings is that


840
00:53:53,360 --> 00:53:56,880
that's not what food
means only to us any more.


841
00:53:56,880 --> 00:53:59,920
We eat in meals,
we eat with other people.


842
00:54:01,360 --> 00:54:03,800
So now, a meal, sitting and eating,


843
00:54:03,800 --> 00:54:07,680
has more to do than with just
the food, with just the nutrition,


844
00:54:07,680 --> 00:54:10,120
it has to do with
the whole social context.


845
00:54:10,120 --> 00:54:14,960
Very, very different scenario
from what a chimpanzee does


846
00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:17,760
or an orang-utan does
or a gorilla does.


847
00:54:17,760 --> 00:54:19,760
It could be a pleasurable one,


848
00:54:19,760 --> 00:54:24,120
it could have politics involved,
it could have sex involved.


849
00:54:24,120 --> 00:54:26,840
It could be dating,
it could be meeting new people.


850
00:54:26,840 --> 00:54:28,120
The business lunch.


851
00:54:28,120 --> 00:54:31,280
A meal is something we use
to accomplish purposes


852
00:54:31,280 --> 00:54:33,240
besides filling our bellies.


853
00:54:36,440 --> 00:54:39,600
We are the ultimate social animal.


854
00:54:39,600 --> 00:54:42,520
It's what has made us
the dominant species.


855
00:54:42,520 --> 00:54:46,120
Yet, this asset comes
with a potential weakness.


856
00:54:46,120 --> 00:54:50,880
If the social group has come to be
eating too much of the wrong food,


857
00:54:50,880 --> 00:54:53,600
it's hard to be the one who doesn't.


858
00:54:55,960 --> 00:54:59,040
If the people in your social group
are eating a certain kind of food,


859
00:54:59,040 --> 00:55:03,480
well, that's the kind of food that
you're also going to want to eat.


860
00:55:03,480 --> 00:55:06,960
So if you're determined to diet,
it makes it difficult for you.


861
00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:09,280
You have one part of your biology,
the social part,


862
00:55:09,280 --> 00:55:11,000
telling you to go this way


863
00:55:11,000 --> 00:55:14,120
and the part that's listened to maybe
the nutritionist and the scientist


864
00:55:14,120 --> 00:55:16,640
saying, "No, no, no, I should be
eating this for my health."


865
00:55:16,640 --> 00:55:19,560
And then, your stomach is trying to
tell you whether it's full or not,


866
00:55:19,560 --> 00:55:21,920
but that isn't necessarily
what you're listening to,


867
00:55:21,920 --> 00:55:23,400
depending on the circumstances.


868
00:55:23,400 --> 00:55:25,640
If you're sitting there happily
chatting away


869
00:55:25,640 --> 00:55:27,240
or everybody else orders dessert,


870
00:55:27,240 --> 00:55:29,400
you say, "Well, yes, I could eat
a little bit more.


871
00:55:29,400 --> 00:55:31,400
"Yes, I'll have that dessert too."


872
00:55:36,120 --> 00:55:39,320
We all know that meals
are about much more than food.


873
00:55:41,280 --> 00:55:43,160
You kind of just keep going.


874
00:55:43,160 --> 00:55:45,640
As long as there's conversation,
you're still eating


875
00:55:45,640 --> 00:55:49,440
and that will probably be more
than you actually need.


876
00:55:52,040 --> 00:55:54,000
If food was just about nutrition,


877
00:55:54,000 --> 00:55:56,360
there wouldn't be so many
overweight people.


878
00:55:56,360 --> 00:55:58,640
But, to me, it's about feeling safe


879
00:55:58,640 --> 00:56:01,440
and feeling needed and wanted.


880
00:56:01,440 --> 00:56:02,680
SHE CHUCKLES


881
00:56:02,680 --> 00:56:05,560
It gives you a nice sensation
that you're looking after them.


882
00:56:07,800 --> 00:56:12,320
I've put on about two stone in the
last year since I met my boyfriend,


883
00:56:12,320 --> 00:56:14,920
because we both love food.


884
00:56:16,800 --> 00:56:19,040
You can justify it
to yourself better


885
00:56:19,040 --> 00:56:22,480
if you've got someone else sitting,
doing it there with you.


886
00:56:23,560 --> 00:56:25,200
It's an easy trap to fall into.


887
00:56:27,160 --> 00:56:29,320
I don't want my children to grow up


888
00:56:29,320 --> 00:56:31,800
with an attitude to food
like I've got,


889
00:56:31,800 --> 00:56:36,400
and I will do everything in my power
to make sure that they're healthy.


890
00:56:45,360 --> 00:56:47,760
We're pulled in different directions


891
00:56:47,760 --> 00:56:49,840
between our desire to be healthy


892
00:56:49,840 --> 00:56:51,640
and our basic human nature.


893
00:56:53,160 --> 00:56:55,280
With our understanding of taste,


894
00:56:55,280 --> 00:56:58,960
we may have created a technology
that can help us deal with this.


895
00:57:01,560 --> 00:57:04,880
We're a clever species,
we got ourselves into this mess.


896
00:57:04,880 --> 00:57:08,760
It's possible that there are
technological ways out of it,


897
00:57:08,760 --> 00:57:11,680
but there is decent evidence
out there that says


898
00:57:11,680 --> 00:57:15,160
that just because you give someone
a sweet taste with no calories,


899
00:57:15,160 --> 00:57:18,040
that may actually increase
their food intake.


900
00:57:18,040 --> 00:57:20,440
It may not actually allow them
to eat less food.


901
00:57:20,440 --> 00:57:23,760
So it's a very difficult,
a very difficult problem.


902
00:57:27,440 --> 00:57:29,320
In Florida, the scientists think


903
00:57:29,320 --> 00:57:32,160
their technology can make
some contribution,


904
00:57:32,160 --> 00:57:33,560
if we use it wisely.


905
00:57:38,120 --> 00:57:41,800
Humans just, by our genetic make-up,


906
00:57:41,800 --> 00:57:45,000
like sweet and there's no way
around that.


907
00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:47,680
So let's give sweet in a package


908
00:57:47,680 --> 00:57:49,280
that's a little healthier for you.


909
00:57:49,280 --> 00:57:52,200
I don't think that
that's a bad thing.


910
00:57:52,200 --> 00:57:53,960
I think it's a very good thing.


911
00:57:53,960 --> 00:57:59,760
I think what we're doing
is applying knowledge that we got,


912
00:57:59,760 --> 00:58:01,840
that we didn't expect to find,


913
00:58:01,840 --> 00:58:08,160
this was serendipitous, but let's
take it and use it to our advantage,


914
00:58:08,160 --> 00:58:10,040
to improve the human diet.


915
00:58:10,040 --> 00:58:12,480
I see no problem at all with that,


916
00:58:12,480 --> 00:58:14,600
I'm very excited about that.


917
00:58:44,000 --> 00:58:47,040
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd