Page 52 - Tropic Magazine Issue 34

TROPIC • FOOD

Full of flavour

TASTE
Oliver James of Guyala Café and
Tattooed Sailor Coffee Roasters
breaks down the science
behind flavour.

As a child, I played on see-saws that had
four seats and were mounted on huge
springs. With five kids in our family we
would balance out the weight distribution
by loading the two smallest siblings on
one seat. So much more fun than the
traditional two-seater see-saw. can perceive many thousands of
This is how I imagine flavour balance. individual compounds. Even more
Except there are six seats, named Sweet, fascinating are the neural pathways that
Sour, Salty, Spicy, Bitter and Umami. our olfactory signals take in our brain.
A dish needs at least three flavour Part of this journey is through the region
components to be yum, but the more, of the brain responsible for long term
the better. I use the see-saw analogy to memory and emotional decision making.
balance the flavours. For example,
our avocado dish at Guyala has all six
flavour components: bitterness in
preserved limes and coriander garnish, How many times have you
sweetness in the bread, avocado,
macadamia nuts, dried mango and chilli smelt something, and felt
threads, spice in the dukkah and Shichimi instantly transported to a
(Japanese seven-ingredient spicy pepper), CAPITALISING ON TASTE
acidity in the finger lime and lime juice, time and a place? Understanding how our flavour system
salt in the feta and black salt, and umami. works enables us to get the most out of
By layering multiple variations of our taste experiences. By slurping coffee
flavour components, a dish becomes from a spoon and aerating wine by
full of flavour! Smelling the perfume of someone sucking in air as we sip, we spray more
close to you or eating food that your aroma molecules onto our olfactory
THE BIOLOGY OF TASTE parents or grandparents cooked can be gland, and get a clearer perception of the
The way our taste receptors work is hugely nostalgic. My most moving food taste. If you’re not slurping while eating
fascinating. Aromas, however, are far experiences instantly transport me back ramen in Japan, you’re considered rude
more complex. Our olfactory gland, to my father’s restaurant, eating osso as you’re not really tasting the meal.
the soft tissue in the back of the throat, bucco or rabbit and tarragon terrine! To train my palate memory to identify
specific flavours, particularly for judging
coffee competitions, I hack my sensory
ability by building flavour associations
with specific long term, and often
childhood memories.
When I smell vanilla for example, I think
of baking vanilla slice. In the sensory
development class I run at Tattooed
Sailor, we slowly taste and discuss the
flavour components of many types of
food, and any memories associated
with them. I absolutely love sharing
flavour experiences, which makes up the
foundation of my hospitality businesses.
Join me sometime for a sensory class,
coffee or tea cupping, or a wine and
cheese night at Guyala.

MORE: guyalacafe.com.au

52 • Tropic • Issue 34