Invited workshops

• Cognition in Food: The legacy of EP Köster
• Sensory and Culinary Innovations for Health, Sustainability and Deliciousness

Cognition in food: The legacy of EP Köster

Led by: Sylvie Issanchou and John Prescott

The research work of Egon Peter (EP) Köster, who died earlier this year, spanned almost six decades. Although he is well-known for publishing many important and influential papers on olfactory psychophysics and olfactory memory and learning, his research interests spanned almost all aspects of sensory and consumer science. A particular theme of his publications in recent decades was the need to ensure that sensory/consumer research was ecologically valid.

EP was Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Utrecht from 1976 to 1997, and an Emeritus Professor thereafter. Among his many achievements was being founder and editor of the journal Chemical Senses and Flavour (more recently shortened to Chemical Senses) and a founding member of the European Chemosensory Research Organisation (ECRO). EP’s papers, from the mid-1960s onwards, are well cited but some individual papers illustrate his broad influence particularly well. Two papers on food choice published in FQAP in 2003 and 2009, for example, have together garnered over 1400 citations. EP was also a highly valued industrial consultant with a keen eye for translating his research into industrial best practices. In 1989, EP was a cofounder of the European Sensory Network, an international network of leading research institutions and industrial partners, in order to share and spread new ideas and up-to-date methodological guidelines in the field of sensory and consumer sciences, perception, and eating behaviour.

Recognizing that any attempt to encapsulate EP’s enormous contributions to our field in one session is unrealistic, this workshop aims to focus specifically on his impact on aspects of basic and applied cognitive science in relation to sensory and consumer science. The workshop will take the form of talks from four speakers from the sensory/consumer science community, all of whom have been EP’s professional research colleagues and collaborators at some stage. The common link in the presentations is to illustrate the profound and enduring impact of EP’S work in bringing cognitive processes into the mainstream of sensory and consumer science. Hence, each talk will discuss a different aspect of cognitive science, focusing on how EP’s own work influenced that area, and in particular food aversions, preferences and food choice. Original experimental paradigms proposed by EP will also be presented.

Questions will be invited from the audience and in addition, audience members will be invited to share their own research histories to illustrate EP’s impact. Moreover, there will be an engaging Kahoot! multiple choice quiz which can be played by everyone in the audience via their smart phone.

Schedule
Talks are 15 mins plus 5 mins for discussion.

Introduction - EP Koster’s enduring legacy (5 mins)
Sylvie Issanchou & John Prescott

Memory for food: properties and functions
Claire Sulmont-Rossé, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, France

Fallacies in psychology of food choice research: Considerations for and importance of studying olfactory memory
Leslie Cameron, Department of Psychological Science, Carthage College, USA and Per Møller,
Per Møller Consulting, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Incidental learning is an unaware learning: Evaluative olfactory conditioning as a candidate for preferences and aversions for food
Gesualdo M. Zucco, Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Italy and
Isabella La Rovere, Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology, University of Padua, Italy

Good consumer research is expensive, but bad (or no) consumer research is even more expensive
Stefanie Kremer, FrieslandCampina, Amersfoort, The Netherlands

Summing up (5 mins)
Sylvie Issanchou & John Prescott

Sensory and Culinary Innovations for Health, Sustainability and Deliciousness

90-minute workshop

Organizers: Dr. Agnes Giboreau, Research Center Institut Paul Bocuse (FR), Dr. Laura Vazquez, Basque Culinary Center (ES) and Prof. Jean-Xavier Guinard, University of California, Davis (USA)

The goal of this workshop is to highlight innovative sensory and culinary strategies for the delivery of health, sustainability and deliciousness, as today’s consumers increasingly expect or even demand all three from their food and drink.

The workshop will be introduced and framed by workshop organizers Agnes Giboreau, Laura Vazquez and Jean-Xavier Guinard. Participants will be asked to answer a live poll on the 3 keywords of the workshop - health, sustainability, deliciousness - in their daily activity. Results will be displayed and used to introduce each specialist’s presentation:

• Prof. Mario Campone, CEO of Nantes Cancer Center, will address the role of eating and drinking in health prevention and patients care.
• A market insight expert from a large multinational food company (under confirmation) will focus on the sustainability piece and address the consumer needs and illustrate the market responses.
• Chef Nais Pirollet, leader of the France team at the last Bocuse d’Or gastronomic competition  and winner of the “Feed the Kids” contest will illustrate the deliciousness piece with the culinary approach.

The workshop organizers will then build on the concepts presented by the speakers and highlight elements of their own innovative strategies in this research space.

The remainder of the workshop will be an open forum for participants in the audience to share their own strategies, engage in a questions-and-answers discussion with the organizers, presenters and fellow workshop participants, and delineate objectives for future research in this space.