There are four containers in front of Marlène Baranzika; held within are vanilla extract, water, milk, and sugar. With an air of experience, Marlène adds a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the glass of water, and another to the glass of milk before applying a further teaspoon of sugar to both solutions. Upon stirring each blend of ingredients, Marlène will taste both mixtures in turn and categorize the flavors she can detect with a very specific and nuanced vocabulary. This, along with devising and creating such flavors to begin with, is the role of a Foodarom flavorist.

Foodarom is a custom flavor designer and manufacturer, providing the food, beverage, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries with tailor-made flavors and formulation support. Founder and CEO of Foodarom, Pierre Miclette, explains the company’s role in a straightforward manner. “We are basically supplying solutions to taste issues that our consumers and customers have.” However, this raises an equally straightforward question: what are the taste issues that Foodarom is recognizing?

Most people around the world have full use of five senses – sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing. However, the senses of smell and taste are remarkably underused. From an early age, most children are taught visually and are given a universally recognized language for colors and shapes. However, this is not the case with regards to foodstuffs or beverages; with countless individuals around the world forced to educate themselves about their own sense of taste – meaning that there is no common vocabulary of flavors that can be shared. A state of affairs that consistently leads to confusion and miscommunication. 

Foodarom is working to define profiles for flavors; specific terms that can be widely and immediately recognized when used to define certain tastes. For example, when describing the overall flavor of vanilla, a flavorist might use a term like “floral”, but then specify the unique profile of a vanilla cupcake with “creamy” and “buttery”, as opposed to the differing profile of a vanilla protein shake where words like “sweet” and “milky” would be employed. In this way, Foodarom is working to redefine the conversation about flavors and eliminate confusion by ensuring we are all speaking the same language. 

Beyond supporting a common vocabulary for existing flavors, Foodarom is also developing new ones. This, as Pierre Miclette explains, is a response to how society’s approach to food is changing. “We are no longer thinking that we will consume food only because we are hungry or because we are thirsty; we are eating food to prevent things down the road, we are eating food to give us energy because we are going to run a marathon tomorrow. We're consuming products rather than just nourishing our body, that's no longer the only purpose.” In creating new flavors, Foodarom’s flavorists must create a whole profile to suit an individual food product with a specific function – such as foods with health benefits. Through such originality, Foodarom can support the innovative companies that are developing new foodstuffs for the global population by assisting such groups with their flavor needs.

A difference of flavor can make the decision between two otherwise identical products a simple one; a person will choose the product with the taste they find preferable. Foodarom is providing the consumer with the means of explaining which aspect of flavor appeals to them, all the while creating new and improved flavors for companies to entice their consumers with. Such activities ensure that, whether bitter or sweet, the future will taste great.