The perception of aroma requires not just our sense of taste, but also our sense of smell. It involves not just the mouth, but the airspace in the throat and nasal cavity. The aroma itself is not a sense perception: there is no sense of aroma. The aromas of foods, herbs and spices are all complex mixtures of many different flavouring compounds that we perceive as a blend via smell and taste. For instance, natural vanilla has a complex aroma consisting of many substances. The main flavouring compound is vanillin. Natural vanilla and vanillin are therefore two different things.

In terms of taste we can distinguish five different types: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami – this is a Japanese loanword for the savoury taste. Smell is much more sophisticated and we can distinguish about 350 different smells. Whether we have a conscious awareness of this variety depends on how we have trained our sense of smell. If we use our sense of smell continuously, we will smell more and be able to perceive subtle nuances. This can be compared to our muscles, which do not become big and strong from sitting around on the sofa, but through being activated by training, especially against an increasing resistance.

Taste, smell and scent

A strong taste is said to be aromatic. But it cannot be adequately described with one of the five taste perceptions. For instance, the aromatic pineapple tastes more than simply sweet: it is also fruity and typically pineapplely. In terms of smells, the smell of rosemary, for instance, is described as aromatic, meaning something spicy. A walk through the Mediterranean maquis in summer envelops us in aromatic air and we feel stimulated. Aromatherapy makes use of specific effects that are linked to the smell of pure essential oils. Examples of essential oils are lavender oil, rosemary oil, orange oil, citronella oil and many others.

Scents are emitted into the surroundings, attracting insects to the flowers. The plant, which is rooted in the soil and cannot move, spreads out through its scent, fills the space and makes itself perceptible. Every type of rose has its specific scent and every flowering plant likewise. Scents are made up of a blend of aromatic substances, so that they can be very subtle. They are typical of each plant and even of the stage of maturity or variety. The skin of a green mandarin smells different to that of a ripe orange-coloured one.

Aroma

Because the aroma consists of many different chemical compounds, the potential variation is correspondingly great. Aromas arise as fruits ripen. When growth is complete, ripening begins and the fruit becomes coloured, soft and sweet. It develops its typical aroma, revealing what it is and what quality it has: its character becomes perceptible. Growth and ripening are two different processes in plant development, which only create high quality products when they are in balance. The fruit's aroma is then evidence of a quality that can be perceived with the senses. If the emphasis is only on growth, for instance through intensive mineral fertilisation, then the ripening process is weak and the aroma of these fruits or vegetables is watery and tasteless or unbalanced. Fruits harvested while unripe cannot yet produce their full typical aroma, and it does not develop during transport and storage in all products. Anyone who has the opportunity of eating ripe mangoes straight from the tree will notice the difference from our imported supplies.

The aroma can serve as a test of quality. This enables us to identify whether something is aromatic – in other words of good quality – or only just good and edible. An unpleasant, fermented off-taste, because something has gone bad, prevents us from eating it and upsetting our stomach. Some top chefs insist on going to the market themselves to choose their fruit and vegetables. Looking, smelling and trying out are essential for a quality test. Ingredients that have been able to develop their full aroma form the best basis for an enjoyable meal. When, for example due to illness, smell and taste are not working and food tastes of nothing, there is no pleasurable experience, no sense of enjoyment and we do not even feel satisfied.

Eating brings a feeling of happiness, and eating with attentiveness and enjoyment is part of a healthy lifestyle. This means observing and smelling what is on the plate and then consciously tasting what we are eating. With time and leisure and other people around the table, the meal thus becomes a source of health. But this needs foods which offer a range of aromas and pleasure.

Meeting the world

A wide range of aromas, shapes and colours on the plate stimulate the senses. The senses are the gateway to the world, we connect to the world through them, experience something about them and about ourselves. So every sense perception is a meeting. The meal is also a meeting which, on the one hand gives pleasure and satisfaction and, on the other, physiologically prepares and stimulates digestion, for instance via enzymes. Who would not find the smell and sight of something delicious mouthwatering?

When we eat, we form a relationship to the food, we meet it and react emotionally, mentally and physiologically.

The effect of foods on our state of mind is demonstrated, for example, by coffee that makes us wide awake or cream cake that makes us feel comfortable. Food-induced emotional effects can be experienced consciously using the method of empathic food testing (see https://www.wirksensorik.de/en).

What is it that meets us in the aroma of a foodstuff? Is it the natural blend of different substances that have been formed in the ripening process and that reveal what is typical of the fruit? Is it a natural, genuine aroma? Do we really meet the strawberry in a strawberry yoghurt? And what if it does not actually contain any strawberry at all? It is only in the best and rather rare occasions that we meet a strawberry in the strawberry yoghurt. We can speculate about the reaction that is evoked in us if the body expects strawberry but does not get any. There will rarely ever be satisfaction, satiety or even pleasure. Similarly chees analogue, that is not in fact cheese, deludes us into believing something, as does every taste enhancer. Our senses are compromised and experience a fake that does not offer us a true object of perception and leaves us "groping in the dark". As with muscles that work against a resistance, sense perception needs an object as a true experience in order to stimulate us. Aromatic, ripe foods that possess vitality, give us aroma experiences and allow us to experience truthfulness because they come close to their typical nature. A technologically manufactured product such as the above-mentioned cheese analogue will have a different effect than the cheese made from the pasture milk of a cow.

The conscious perception of the meal enhances the relationship to ourselves and also to the food, becoming a source of health and pleasure. A food that tastes especially good and aromatic awakens interest for the production and preparation of the food. When something tastes particularly good it is common to ask for the source of the ingredients and the recipe. Interest is a basic requirement for nurturing a relationship. And through eating we nurture our relationship to the world. The relationship is genuine, if both the perceiver and the food are genuine.

Published in info3 February 2023