Ducks are supposed to have very few taste buds. At least that’s what I thought until very recently when a paper came out indicating that ducks actually have a lot of taste buds. People were just looking for them in the wrong place; they are not on their tongue.
The subject of this symposium, natural versus artificial, is in the same category. I wonder if we are looking for the correct answer in the wrong place.
The basic question is “do we need flavors at all?’ I think this is the question that regulatory agencies are asking, The issue of natural vs. artificial is a front. The second question is ’’do we really need this endless variety of flavors?” It would be much easier if we only had five or six. We could test them at every level and every combination.
I will cover some old ground answering these two fundamental questions.
