Taste buds get a close look at food convention

By Tim Sturtridge

Dr. Susan Rodriguez of the Viticulture and Enology department took the stage Sunday at the Fresno Cooks! event.

The second annual Gourmet Food & Kitchen Show at Fresno Convention Center’s New Exhibit Hall had Rodriguez’s presentation served up as a finale.

The presentation was entitled “What is Taste” and engaged the audience in issues surrounding how tastes are perceived, how other senses determine tastes and how our preconceptions interfere with how we interpret flavors.

Jelly Beans were passed along the front row and members of the audiences were asked to eat them without first looking at them and holding their noses. This showed how, without other senses, it is difficult to pick up on specific flavors. Instead the beans only registered as sweet or sour.

Rodriguez focused on how much the nose is involved in telling the brain what we taste.

“ Ninety-percent of all taste comes from nasal senses,” she said. “This is why wine tasters slosh it about in the front of their mouths. They are trying to make it react with air and come to the back of their throat and up to their nose.”

It was also pointed out that scientists have a good grasp of the senses, except taste. Very recently the Japanese discovered a fifth taste, it is called umami and detects soy and broth flavors, she said.

As well as the Jelly Beans, many other aids were passed around the audiences to help them understand taste better. These included white strips of paper that showed how some people can pick up on bitter tastes that others cannot.

Rodriguez, previously a research microbiologist with E&J Gallo Winery and research scientist with Indiana University, finished up by showing how to identify bad wines and the factors which cause them to go bad.

Most people at the event connected with Fresno State agreed it was a success. The Fresno Cooks! event allowed students and professors to sell samples of their wine to the public.

Although the department did not expect to raise much money from the show, it will raise the profile of the Fresno State winery.

Tish Cooper, wine production and fermentation lab senior said, “CSU, Fresno is unique. The wine production facilities are superb and many of the lectures are world-renowned.”

Cooper recently transferred from Oregon State, a school which has just started running viticulture and enology programs.

“ Many universities that are developing wine related courses try to model themselves on CSU, Fresno.” She said, “One of the things that makes it so great is the focus is on teaching, not profit.”