From Molecules to Moments: What Makes Food Delicious?
Lunch with Excellence in Flavor Science Award Winner
Tuesday, October 20 | 12:00PM – 1:00PM
What transforms food chemistry into a memorable moment of pleasure? Drawing on selected experiences from a career in flavor research, this presentation offers a personal journey from identifying the molecules that shape characteristic aromas to appreciating flavor as a dynamic, multisensory experience. Freshly prepared coffee provides a familiar example of how aroma emerges, evolves, and gradually loses its freshness. Yet deliciousness extends far beyond aroma alone. Taste, texture, smoothness, body, lingering sensations, and aftertaste all contribute to the experience. The East Asian culinary concepts of umami, kokumi, and xiān—the latter expressing an appealing fresh and savory deliciousness—illustrate different dimensions of this sensory richness. Combining scientific discoveries with personal reflections, the presentation explores how molecules become sensations, sensations become moments, and moments become memories.
Session Speaker
Dr. Imre Blank
Founder, IBK Food & Beverage Consulting
Dr. Imre Blank is the Founder of IBK Food & Beverage Consulting, providing scientific and strategic advice to food and flavor companies worldwide. He studied Food Chemistry in Germany and received his PhD in Flavor Chemistry from the Technical University of Munich. Dr. Blank has worked in Nestlé Research for 28 years leading food and flavor science and technology. In 2015, he was appointed the first Nestlé Fellow, in recognition of his expertise in food chemistry and flavor generation. He retired in 2019 as Head of Nestlé’s Global R&D Networks. Afterwards, he held Chief Scientific Officer positions in Europe and Asia while providing consulting services to food and flavor companies worldwide.
Over his dual industrial and academic career, Dr. Blank has made important contributions to flavor chemistry and food science, particularly in aroma and taste, molecule-triggered perception, Maillard reactions, lipid oxidation, flavor-generation mechanisms, and the formation and mitigation of food-process contaminants. His work has been applied across numerous product categories. He has authored more than 200 scientific publications and patents. Since 2010, Dr. Blank has been teaching as a visiting professor at universities in Europe and Asia and currently serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. His career reflects a longstanding commitment to connecting industrial and academic flavor research.