Aroma: a larger than life experience?

Abstract

Aroma is today an essential part of our diet. Often used to reinforce the initial neutral taste of the food produced on an industrial scale, it is sometimes the main course, at the core of many edible products. First thought as accessory, it now takes the lead. From this observation and through the review of examples of the food industry, this article puts forward the hypothesis that the aroma supplants the food –in the relation of resemblance between the original model and its representation, which falls under the inculcation – and eclipses it. Potentially strong on the palate, it is a promise of intense experience. This is particularly true in the case of flavors without pre-established references. Pure abstract aromatic constructions allow greater freedom of projection, and foster discursive emphasis. In these cases, the taste alone, uncorrelated with prerogatives of nutrition, becomes the support of a hyperesthesic experience.