Future flavours

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As anyone who grew up in the 1970s or earlier knows all too well, the rich and varied food choices we enjoy in the UK today were not always the norm. While Brits took the anglicised version of curry to their hearts readily, other – more exotic – flavours have taken longer to form part of the nation’s meal repertoire. 

But as food culture has become increasingly important for many people, predicting what the next culinary trend will be is vital for food professionals all over the world. 

To help chefs, bartenders and manufacturers, Bernard Lahousse, Peter Coucquyt and Johan Langenbick founded food technology company Foodpairing. By combining consumer intelligence, molecular analysis of ingredients and data science, the Bruges-based business sets out to forecast the next big flavours in the food industry.

Each co-founder brings his own expertise to the business: Coucquyt is a former Michelin-star chef; Langenbick works on business development; while Lahousse brings science and bio-engineering knowledge to the team. 

“Peter makes sure that the recipe generation is of gastronomic quality, so he’s watching the quality of the outcome of the results – and he’s also the one who’s connected to our network of chefs worldwide. Johan talks to companies to know what the challenges are in bringing more successful products onto the market; and I know about flavours and how they interact,” explains Lahousse. 

Foodpairing’s aim is to build the largest flavour database in the world; so far, it has analysed about 2,000 products. As well as looking at the items – like apples and tomatoes – it also looks at the process, such as type of cut, because this affects the flavour profile. “We know all the molecules, aroma, taste and texture that describe the product and which we use to find – for example – how an ingredient can be fitted into a recipe,” says Lahousse.

Aroma is a significant factor in the flavour of a product. “More than half of flavour is what you smell – not only when it’s in your nose, but when it’s going from your throat to reach your nasal [passage], which is the way we smell the majority of products when we eat.”

The company uses gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) to do the analysis, but because a machine ‘smells’ in a different way from a human, the company visualises a product’s smell in ‘aroma wheels’, to give its aroma profile. 

Researching people’s taste preferences is the next part of the equation. “To know their taste preferences, we need to follow the behaviour of the consumer. So we need insight into the ingredients or recipes they like. Because we know the chemistry of those ingredients, we don’t look at the recipe; we look deeper – at the molecules – and we try to find patterns in the aromas, or taste combinations and textures, that the person likes,” says Lahousse. 

Foodpairing has various methods for gathering data on consumer behaviour, such as open data from recipe websites and social media. It has agreements with some companies allowing its application programming interface (API) to be plugged into third-party apps to gather data on people’s preferences. 

“The science is the basic layer. It gives an objective overview of the best possible combinations, but it’s not just from science that it’s a good food combination – it’s also culture, and it’s personal. So, on top of that [science], it could be location and then the person themselves. We need to have those three to have a good insight into the preference.”

In terms of location, Foodpairing is currently working mainly in the western world, but flavours from around the globe are analysed and locality has a huge influence on taste preferences. 

“If we analyse chocolate; strawberry, soya sauce and chicken are three potential combinations that match very well with it,” says Lahousse. “But chocolate and strawberry will be more of a western combination, whereas chocolate and soya sauce is not a combination you’d find in the West. 

“But it’s a combination offered – by KitKat, for example – in Japan; and chicken and chocolate is a typical combination in Mexico. So you see the influence of culture on matching the products.” 

The reason these flavours work together is because of a key molecule they share – furaneol. 

“It exists in strawberry and chocolate – of course, the matrix that it’s in, and the concentration, is also very important, which all has to be taken into account. 

“Based on that, we can make predictions of what ingredients will combine nicely. We’re looking for similarity, synergy – and, with aroma, we’re looking for the same. With taste and texture you look for contrast.” 

Helping with NPD

At present, it is mainly the chef community that uses the Foodpairing site, but it also has major food manufacturers among its 135,000 members. For the corporations, it can work on new product development (NPD) and on identifying which new flavours should be launched. 

“When they think about what should be a new line extension – or a new taste – there are no methodologies at the moment, so it’s by intuition. We’ve tried to make it much more structured by adding the science data,” says Lahousse.  

The company recently worked with FrieslandCampina on a milk-based drink for adults in Vietnam. It looked at potential flavours and used its algorithm to avoid unpleasant tasting combinations. The range of possible flavour combinations was huge, but – with its market research approach – Foodpairing reduced this down to 12 on-trend flavours. 

“Because it was a new drink, the company had no idea what combinations it could make. The concept was like a trolley on the street and people could customise their milk drinks,” explains Lahousse. 

“We analysed the profile for the best possible combinations and then we looked at the market and consumer data to see which of those ingredients consumers are looking for and talking about.” 

However, the motivation behind setting up the business was not to introduce the world to new flavour combinations; Lahousse also thinks it’s important for food-consumption habits in a future where some resources will become increasingly scarce. “We believe diet is one of the most efficient ways to solve two of the biggest challenges of our time – sustainability and health. By using food tech on top of diet we can personalise diets and we can make food fun. 

“We are analysing loads of seaweed and insects. Our methodology has the big advantage that – even if we combine something that nobody has ever combined before – by doing the analysis we can see what are the best-possible matches.”