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Grain Memory - From Anatolia's Taste Memory To The Future

23 November 202011 min reading

Mine Ataman BBM Magazine Publication Consultancy Board Founder of the Seed Platform

Customized nutrition will come along with some legal regulations in many countries of the world towards 2030. Apart from the necessity of customized nutrition for health, producing the necessary agricultural raw materials requires serious expertise in the "agricultural technology" spiral of the future.

Not to mention food waste, the future of food is the most important part of the highly strategic agricultural industry. The concept of "food art" gives clue on how assertive food will play in guiding societies in the future.

Undoubtedly, the taste memory of geography has greatly influenced us, the children of the past. The perception of abundance on the tables flowing with milk and honey enriched with the value of sharing. The agriculture and food stories of Anatolian civilizations are hidden in the memory of the flavors hidden in our mind. In the flavor palette of Anatolian geography, there is Mesopotamia's sun mixed with the soil and the seed's genetic heritage. The tales from the Dede Gorgud Epic, advice inherited from Tapduk Emre, the legendary love of Ezo -The Bride, the struggle of the grain against the sunn pest, the traditional "kımıl" dance have all formed the description of the history of taste memory. Taşkale granaries, Divle Obruk which is famous for its exclusive cheese, keep the flavors attached to the time in their memories. The tradition of "taste shelters" carved into nature is the cavities protecting the future.

Each and every one of weddings, funerals, births, getting brides, asking for the girl's hand in marriage, and circumcisions has kept a different visual feast in the back room of their memory for centuries and brought it to our day.

While Anatolia has created its own “taste memory”, the meetings on the way of migration for thousands of years, the impact of the remnants of the migration on the table and the food left by the inns and baths for time carried all together what food made us feel into the future. Intercontinental taste meetings that started with spices carried the world cuisines and the concept of food to another common future.

New era plates are creating the concept of “timeless taste memory” by bringing together “recipes cooked in the kitchen of history” with different art and technology.

Shall we take a look at the history of taste memory? The Hittites added all kinds of fruits and vegetables to the grain and curtseyed to the Gods. The Seljukians shares their bread in exchange of adding salt to the meals in the Sufism table, and the Ottomans enriched whatever they have in their cellar with tail fat.

Humanity, with the memory of thousands of years of poverty, clung to life with the industrial revolution in the remaining times of the years when history was the dream of the new time. While the cold boxes to protect the fruits and vegetables added flavor to your life, they were often not enough to make humanity happy. Even though the technology seemed coming like an avalanche, the taste residues in memory could not tear humanity away from its past.

When we reached the 1920s, the memories of modern people had not witnessed bubble gum yet. Of course, there was no "soft ice cream" too. The exploding sugar was waiting for the right time within the invention quota on the lab shelves of Red Bull. Many products, often created as "medicinal flavors," gradually evolved into popular food and beverage culture.

The new generation "art of taste" once continued to whet the appetite of the food industry. For modern people, food was not just happiness, but often trouble. The Ottoman Emperor’s exclusive oven was laying the table with the concept of "edible health". The concept of diet and health was the beginning of the vegetarian diet of ancient Greek philosophers such as Socrates and Plato. Our modern taste heritage has been designed with many different elements such as pleasure, entertainment, visual feast, affordable prices, access to food in the last 100 years.

CUSTOMIZED TASTE DESIGN Customized nutrition will come along with some legal regulations in many countries of the world towards 2030. Apart from the necessity of customized nutrition for health, producing the necessary agricultural raw materials requires serious expertise in the "agricultural technology" spiral of the future.

“Taste Renaissance” reveals the nutritional resources of the future and their effects. The underlying reasons are sensitivities to the planet, compulsory choices, and the difficulties in access to food. Scientific research has already accepted the fact that the same food does not give the same results for everyone. Some people's blood sugar increases when they eat sugar ice cream, while the glucose levels of others do not change. Controversial fields of science are growing as are the ancient knowledge of nature. Result; “customized nutrition” is the star of the future. Genetic inheritance, the effect of geography, and family sequence are all codes of customized nutrition.

"Hunger thermostat" has been tuned to hunger traumas and satiety history of the geography. The desire to eat more actually is the body's insurance against a possible “famine” in the future, like storing something. Although we may not be aware of it, our social appetites are constantly being designed by the food industry.

Each year, we weigh 1 kg more per person in average. Appetite adjustment mechanisms are being designed by the food industry under the titles of advertisements, packaging, trends, and recipes. Nobody can make their own “appetite adjustment”. If it is up to us, we can get through the next day with less than 1/3 of the daily energy. The "the fine-tune made to our biology" leaves marks on the "taste memory" of our future.

FUTURE'S TASTE MEMORY WITH FRIENDLY TECHNOLOGY According to an article published in the BBC Focus magazine, in the next decade, genetic and bio molecular science will enrich agricultural products in terms of desired proteins and vitamins.

The CRISPR Cas9 enzyme, the world's most effective DNA scissors, is radically changing biotechnology and genetics. CRISPR enables the genes in human DNA to be rearranged by cut-copy-paste method, just like writing on a computer.

Is the CRISPR Cas9 method a chance or the end for super-perfect babies in the womb or perfect foods? The forms, fluidity, taste, durability and pleasure of foods are all just the beginning for the foods of the future. For example, the supplement of methionine, which is low in grain, can be taken from another agricultural product, corn. In 2008, modified carrots were created that increase the body's absorption of calcium. Potatoes with more protein, flaxseed with more omega 3 and omega 6 fats are examples of products enriched with protein.

With the CRISPR-Cas9 method, make room in your kitchens for peanuts that do not trigger allergies and lentils as rich in protein as meat.

MAKE ROOM FOR  NEW TASTES IN YOUR TASTE MEMORY The discovery of the spice and silk routes created a richness of taste, and the flavor palette was enriched with the discovery of umami. While modern people have taken very enthusiastic steps to carry the taste memory of the last 1000 years to the future, we are going to discover new flavors we never knew in the forthcoming years. Technology in agriculture has already caught the attention of Silicon Valley as Anatolia is dealing with the ancestral seed wave. Impossible Foods has already become a chain as a sustainable eco-friendly meatball. Although some raise the flag of war labeling it as unnatural food, the concept of "friendly technology" will become the future of the agriculture and food industry.

Let the commercials of free-range roaming chickens go, it seems that eggs without chicken will set the agenda in the future of food. While eating Chef Heston Blumenthal's "sound of the seas" dish, the diners listened to the sound of the waves to enhance the flavors of the seafood. The shape of the plate, the crunch of the chips and the humming in the background are all factors that affect the taste and pleasure of the food. After "neurogastronomy" is now the main squeeze of agriculture and food following marketing.

The flavor components of the future, the perception of food and the concept of health will undoubtedly be shaped by the agricultural policies of powerful countries. Augmented reality, aromatic sounds, controlled light games will all be part of the nutritional perception of the future. While consuming grain, the image of Göbeklitepe flowing in the background will undoubtedly convey the fact that it is a part of ancient kitchens to the brain and will also guide the taste receptors.

Snacks that will stimulate the sense of taste and smell experienced by those receiving chemotherapy… DARPA designs implantable “nerve interfaces” that aim to strengthen human senses by transmitting high-resolution audio-visual information and potential smells and tastes directly to the brain.

Edible spray paints and gold powder have long been used in kitchens where luxury food perception is positioned.

TWO OUT OF EVERY THREE BITES ARE BEE-MADE Approximately 35% of global agricultural production is dependent on bees and other pollinators. Bees are at the center of the agricultural system, thanks to the pollination of 75% of the first 120 nutrients we consume with pleasure. We need bees for two out of every three bites of food we eat. Did you know that we are getting more than 90% of the lycopene, vitamin A, calcium, folic acid, lipids, various antioxidants and vitamin C that we need from nuts, fruits, and vegetables that are reproduced thanks to the pollinators?

The contribution of bees to the amazing running of nature is more important qualitatively than quantitatively. In other words, the animals that we need for meat or grains pollinated by the wind may not need bees, but the aroma of the sauce that adds flavor to a slice of bread and a piece of meat comes from agricultural products pollinated by bees. Bees assume a quality-enhancing and content-creating mission for the “taste memory”. The famous Big Mac hamburger, launched by McDonald's in 1975, makes the biggest sale in its history. A researcher investigated the "taste relationship" between Big Mac and bees. He looks for the role of bees in pollinating 19 different agricultural products in hamburgers in the research. Then, the products in which the bee takes an active role as pollinators are removed from the hamburger. When the beef of the cattle eating the clovers in the pastures pollinated by the bees, the flower of the sesame placed on the bread, the crunchy lettuce, the spices in the sauce pollinated by bees are all removed, the hamburger turns into a savorless food. This is how the bee's role in the "taste memory" in agricultural production is scientifically explained. In conclusion, if there are no bees, the world will continue to exist, but it will never taste as good as is.

Creativity in the kitchen has been a pleasant tradition since ancient times. Portable ovens and grinding machines were far and away the best technological inventions of modern kitchens back in the days. Liquid nitrogen and espuma have already transferred from the professional league to household kitchens. Now is the time to create experience in the kitchen. Julienne potatoes, onion rings and finger potatoes are made by our robot chef with a click.

ARE NATURAL FOODS NATURAL ENOUGH? The wild forms of thousands of agricultural products, which we call delicious natural products today, were quite different from today's forms. The orange carrot was originally a snow-white and puny vegetable. The ancient peach was a salty fruit that looked like cherry. Watermelons were small, hard and bitter. Eggplant was a lovely white vegetable that looked like eggs.

Of course, it should not be forgotten that mankind carried the most productive and unique samples of all kinds to the present day. The simple amorous choices we are still making to grow the most beautiful, the most intelligent are actually natural selection and improvement.

40% of the world is overweight. So far, no country has won its war against obesity yet. The solution is reducing calories. On the other hand, the result on the planet where the poor and insatiable live is the traumas created by those who are experiencing hunger amidst plenty. Therefore, food engineers increased the surface area in contact with the tongue by coating the inert mineral particles with sugar. In this way, sweeter foods are produced using less sugar. Every trend in the food industry creates the need for suitable raw materials. The resulting point of all this is that seed growing meets technology. The futuristic point of view of our ancestors, who say "Everything except seed and sheep is a game", points to the right way for the future foods.

Robotic kitchens, design dishes made from 3d printers are a clue to those who design the agriculture of the future. We should only pay attention to the voice we need to hear.

In summary; the traces falling from the seed of the past to the soil rhapsodize the taste memory of the future...

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