ABSTRACT
Seeing, smelling, and hearing allow us to build expectancies of what it will be like to eat a food. Once the food is placed in the mouth, the senses of taste, smell, and touch (somatosensation) combine to generate flavor, the sensory experience that accompanies eating and drinking. This chapter considers the processes involved in generating flavor and its acceptability. It examines the practical implications of this knowledge for nutraceuticals. In considering implications, various sensory problems that are commonly encountered with flavors are examined, including those gustatory, olfactory, tactile (pungency, texture, astringency), and extrinsic in origin (e.g., color). The final part of the chapter examines some potential solutions to these problems, including masking, exposure, and expectancy manipulation. The chapter aims to provide a basic background in flavor perception and acceptability and how these may be manipulated and improved.
