Flavour of the month

[pne]

Interesting thread on Slashdot about flavours of things.

Basically arguing that nowadays, after having been exposed to artificial flavours for so long, people expect, say, red things to taste a certain way, even though that taste isn't typically much like any natural flavour (e.g. strawberry or cherry). So the things just taste "red".

(On a related note, I typically expect banana-flavoured things to taste of banana flavour, rather than of banana; the two are fairly different, at least to me, but banana flavour certainly tastes recognisable and I'd identify it as "banana flavour" even if it doesn't taste much like bananas.)

Comments

[aajwind.livejournal.com]

Grape-flavoured things do not taste at all like grapes, as another example. Also, many orange-flavored things do not taste like oranges.

[marikochan.livejournal.com]

Yes! I definitely agree with that last paragraph. I don't like banana-flavor, lemon-flavor, or cinnamon-flavor (I detest the latter -- get it anywhere near my nose and I flinch away), but I like bananas, lemons, and cinnamon. My friends don't believe me when I tell them the flavors are distinctly different. =)

Seen on a packet of crisps

[alister.livejournal.com]

Chicken flavoured crisps
... suitable for vegetarians.