Disruptive DiningCourse 3

Key Lime PieTaste bud tingling lime goodness

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Lime

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SCIENTIFIC NAMECitrus aurantifolia

LOCATIONMexico

ACIDITY 2.00 - 2.80 pH

Limes are grown in tropical and subtropical areas with highly acidic fruits widely consumed in the United States. Limes are generally three to four centimeters in diameter with a peel that is usually green or a variation of yellow. Limes exceed lemons in both acid and sugar content. While most fruits can be enjoyed apart from America’s favorite dishes, limes as well as lemons are a different story. Limes are frequently used as a way to add flavor to a dish or dessert but due to their acidity levels they aren’t normally eaten outright on their own. Pucker up!

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Miracle Berry Tablet

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SCIENTIFIC NAMESynsepalum dulcificum

LOCATION

West Africa

LENGTH

About the length of a coffee bean

This miracle berry has an extremely low sugar content with a bit of a tang.The active part of the berry that creates the sweet sensations is called miraculin. When the fleshy part of the berry is eaten the miraculin binds to the tongue’s taste buds and makes sour foods taste sweet. “Miraculin binds protons and becomes able to activate the sweet receptors, resulting in the perception of sweet taste.” This effect can last upwards of an hour until the saliva in the mouth washes the molecules away. “This phenomenon has enjoyed some revival in food-tasting events, referred to as “flavor-tripping parties” by some.”

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Dysgeusia

3weeks after

chemotherapy ends patients begin to get

their taste back.

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DEFINITION noun

dysfunction of the sense of taste.

CONCERNING miracle berry

“Dysgeusia is an alteration in taste and is associated with ageusia, which is the complete lack of taste, and hypogeusia, which is the decrease in taste sensitivity.” This unfortunate effect is a common complaint of patients undergoing chemotherapy. Over half of patients undergoing chemotherapy report taste changes, severe or minor. Sweet, sour, salt or bitter taste changes, decreased taste sensations, and metallic tastes are common for patients. Quality of life is drastically impaired for the cancer patient with dysgeusia which is less obvious than the immediate physical effect. Eating, being a social event and no longer is a source of enjoyment because of taste alteration. Patients end up avoiding eating around friends and family and isolate themselves during profound episodes.

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Dishes and Dining

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Dish presentation

First the participant will consume the miracle berry tablet. Then after a couple of minutes they will bite into the lime wedge. At that point the acidity of the lemon should taste sweet. Then the participant will consume the sour cream on each spoon one by one. Each spoon progressively becomes more textured as to be symbolic of the taste that is regained slowly week by week after a patient undergoes chemotherapy.

Miracle Berry Tablet

Consume tablet

Bite into lime wedge

Eat spoonful of sour cream, again, again

“flavors trip”

“Key Lime Pie”

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MolecularGastronomy

“The interesting thing about the miracle berry in chemo patients is that it actually straightens out their taste buds, whereas for you and I, it blocks our bitter and sour receptors. For them, it straightens them out to taste food as it normally tastes.

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SOLUTION: using molecular gastronomy we can inform people of the taste altering ability of miracle berries and the potential it holds for chemotherapy patients.

Through “flavor tripping” the average person can experience taste receptor alteration. It is hard to understand abstractly that something like chemotherapy can have an affect on your taste buds but by giving people that experience it opens their eyes up to how drastically taste can change.

FLAVOR TRIPPING:

Just as the miracle berry can transform a plate of foods that would never be eaten on their own into a decadent dessert experience, miracle berries can take a plate of food that has been rendered unpalatable by chemotherapy and make it taste good again. The miracle berry also has potential to help with other dietary concerns like diabetes by replacing their sugar in things like coffee or dessert.

Aside from the experience of flavor tripping alone there is the factor that the diner is going through the experience with another person. The social benefit that meal sharing has becomes a painful experience for a chemotherapy patient. By correcting the taste of food for those people you are also restoring beneficial social interaction and providing comfort for people who need all the comfort and support they can get. Trip on!

2 COLUMBUS CIRCLE NEW YORK, NY 10019 PRESENTED BY THE MUSEUM OF FOOD AND DRINK

EXHIBITION BY APRIL MCMULLAN

WORK CITED

“Synsepalum Dulcificum.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Nov. 2014. Web. 29 Nov. 2014.

“Management of Chemotherapy-In-duced Dysgeusia.” Cancer Resources. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2014.

“Transcript of “Cooking as Alchemy”” Homaro Cantu + Ben Roche: Cooking as Alchemy. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2014.