The Ongoing Manipulation Game of the Culinary World

Consumers are rarely aware of how much work actually goes into the enjoyment of their food. It is common knowledge that restaurant owners put a lot of work into their art, we can see this in the food they put forth, but so much is missed behind the scenes in the manipulation of the consumers' senses. Flavor perception is often confused for the simplicity of taste, however, I argue flavor perception is a complex construct of multisensory interactions, intentionally placed to influence consumers' purchasing behaviors. The combination of sights, scents, textures, sounds, and tastes work together to create the brain's understanding of flavor, and are each able to be manipulated to subtly change the flavor of the food according to the chef's desires.