charles’ fugue DIY
do it yourself multisensory dining experiments
“as infants, we begin to experience new tastes by exploring our tactile senses. it is, in a sense, our original obsession.” —Hortense Koster
Charles’ Fugue uses sensory stimulants to provoke the brain, altering the perception of taste while dining. This booklet includes one food experiment for each of the five senses. Use it to realize and explore qualities of food beyond flavor and to further your understanding of sensory overlaps.
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diy
an experiment in touch
gather: ice cream coffee 2 bowls 2 mugs refrigerator microwave water
1. Place one scoop of ice cream in each bowl. 2. Microwave one bowl of ice cream for 15 seconds, until ice cream is fairly melted. 3. Taste the cold ice cream. Cleanse your palate with water and taste the warm ice cream. 4. Refrigerate one mug for 40 minutes. 5. Pour a second mug of hot coffee. 6. Taste the cold coffee. Cleanse your palate with water and taste the warm coffee.
The tastebuds are more sensitive to high temperatures. Since ice cream is consumed frozen, manufacturers add copius amounts of sweetener, rendering warmed ice cream extremely sweet. Bitter coffee is more flavorful when hot, and much less so when cool.
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diy
an experiment in scent
gather: potato apple pear potato peeler knife blindfold
1. Peel the potato, apple, and pear. 2. Cut the peeled vegetable and fruits into small slices. 3. Blindfold yourself or a friend. 4. Plug your nose while eating the slices. Attempt to determine which food you are eating without releasing your nose.
The sense of smell is approximately 10,000 times more sensitive than that of taste. Unplugging your nose allows aroma to fill your nostrils, and the potato, apple, and pear become obviously distinguishable even with a blindfold. Next time you want to force yourself to eat an unpleasant tasting food, such as broccoli, try plugging your nose and you won’t taste a thing.
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diy
an experiment in taste
gather: non-iodized table salt Accent flavor enhancer 2 cups 2 spoons
1. Measure 1/8 teaspoon of salt into cup 1. 2. Measure 3/4 teaspoon of Accent into cup 2. 3. Fill each cup with 2/3 cup of warm water and stir until the salt and the Accent dissolve. 4. Taste the salt water. 5. Taste the Accent water.
Tasting the salt water should taste salty. The Accent water should taste salty, as well, but it retains a meatier, brothier flavor—umami. It fills the mouth and leaves a lingering taste. Accent, or monosodium glutamate, is the pure form of umami and is found in the spice aisle at most grocery stores.
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diy
an experiment in sight
gather: 5 transparent glasses apple juice lemonade white grape juice cranberry juice pear juice food coloring unsalted crackers friend
1. Pour 1/4 cup of each juice into its own glass. 2. Add the following food coloring to the juices: 2 drops of red to apple, 1/2 drop of red to lemonade, 1 drop of red and 1 drop of yellow and 1 drop of blue to white grape, 1 drop of red and 1 drop of blue to cranberry, 1 drop of yellow to pear. 3. Ask a friend to sample the juices and guess what they are as specifically as possible, cleansing the palate with crackers between drinks. * It may be helpful to note which juice is which for your reference.
Adding the food coloring creates colored juices that still appear very natural. Because of this, your taster most likely assumes the juices are what they look like, even after tasting them. This is because the brain makes many connections based on sight alone.
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diy
an experiment in sound
gather: salted saltine crackers headphones metal song
1. Place the headphones on your ears and begin playing an upbeat, thrashing heavy metal song at a low volume. 2. Begin eating the crackers. 3. Between each bite, raise the volume of the music slightly. Continue this until you can no longer hear much outside noise. * Stop raising the volume if the music begins to hurt your ears. 4. Take off the headphones and taste the crackers again.
As volume increases, the perceived taste of food decreases. While raising the volume slightly each time you bite the crackers, you may not notice this change, but it certainly becomes apparent once you immediately eliminate loud music. Additionally, the crackers probably seem crunchier as the volume is brought up.
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