This week in Culinary Medicine, we had a class lecture on the texture and taste of food, as well as another lab with Mrs. Cheryl in the Culinary Lab on changing the textures of food and how it effects the way we interpret it.
On Tuesday in the texture and taste lecture, we learned that although texture doesn't affect the taste of food, it can sometimes turn people off of eating it due to the texture not being something they are used to. Texture is determined by sensory receptors in the mouth, as well as the noise the food makes as we chew it and the way it looks. We also watched a video on an experiment done on children in a school, three bowls of yogurt were colored differently but had the same exact flavor. When asked to guess the flavor of yogurt, every student chose the color they associated with the fruit! It was super interesting to learn how the texture of certain foods effects how people perceive them!
On Wednesday, Mrs. Cheryl came back to our class to help us perform a lab on food texture. By adding "Thick & Easy" to a liquid, it can be catagorized into three classifications, nectar, honey, and pudding. The more powder added, the thicker the liquid becomes. This is used for people who have difficulty swallowing so they can enjoy their food but have it be safe for them to eat. In the lab, I was assigned orange juice to a nectar consistency. Although I like orange juice, I somehow couldn't get down the thicker orange juice. This lab was so much fun and it was so interesting to learn about all of the different textures, how to make them, and why they are used!
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