About Peter Klosse
Dr. Peter Klosse is a lector in gastronomy at the Hotel Management School in Maastricht (the Netherlands).In 2004 he published his PhD thesis about flavor classification, a validated model to assess flavor objectively. Peter combines academics with practice. He owns a five star hotel and the Academy for Gastronomy to train chefs and sommeliers.
Peter Klosse’s flavor theory
Professor Peter Klosse’s theory of flavor describes how a dish can reach the pinnacle of flavor. For this two things are required: deliciousness,which is about the products themselves and the combination of six factors for culinary success, and liking, which is about the personal preferences of people tasting the dish.
ABOUT PETER KLOSSE
ABOUT PETER KLOSSE | TEXT: MAAIKE DE REUVER | DESIGN: ARJEN MOES
DELICIOUSNESS
LIKING
about Peter Klosse
Lector Gastronomy in Foodservice at Hotel Management School Maastricht.
sweet
sour
bitter
salt
MOUTHFEEL
PRESENTATION
UMAMI
NAME
BALANCE
AROMA
Flavor begins with the right ingredients. The use of poor quality ingredients will never result in a high quality dish. Furthermore, a product’s ripeness greatly affects both its flavor and texture, and as a direct result those of your dish.
Ingredients
Your sense of smell is vitally important for your perception of flavor. The smells of coffee, freshly baked bread, and apple pie are all seen as positive. Whereas the smell of spoiled food is perceived negatively. Fun fact: women are more sensitive in smelling than men.
Aroma
A perfectly composed dish has an interesting mouthfeel. The ultimate dish has elements of coating (fatty/sweet), contracting (sour, salt, cold), and dry (crispy, bitter, hard).
Mouthfeel
The way in which you present a dish influences the flavor. Use different colors, shapes, and dimensions on the plate, as well as for the plate itself. Music which is played in the room, light and darkness and the room itself are all aspects of the meal experience as well.
Presentation
The presence of umami in a dish enhances the flavor as a whole. Umami is the flavor of a certain amino acid: glutamate. It enhances many flavors and raises the richness of the dish. Umami is naturally found in ripe tomatoes, mushrooms, peas, aged cow cheese, and seaweed.
Umami
The name of a dish raises expectations. It is very important that these expectations are met. So promises made by thenameshould at least be delivered. Prevent the use of words that make an issue of food. Studies show that the use of cultural and regional names may sell better than 'vegetarian', 'meatless' or 'healthy'. Wouldn't you rather eat Gado Gado than 'green beans with peanut sauce and tofu'?
Name
A well balanced dish has elements of the flavors salt, sweet, sour and bitter. Too much of any one flavor is bad, but not enough is equally negative. This doesn’t imply that all four elements are equally needed to be present in a dish. A hearty dish is better with a touch of sweet, sour and bitter. Likewise a sweet dish is better with a touch of salt, sour and bitter.
Balance
INGREDIENTS
Deliciousness
Deliciousness is the composition of flavor. It is a beautiful, harmonious combination of several factors that each influence the flavor of a product. Deliciousness doesn’t happen by accident. It is art, and the ultimate balance of these six factors for culinary success.
Read Peter's book
Want to know more?
CONVENIENCE / SPEED
SITUATION
MOOD
EXPERIENCE
MOMENT OF THE DAY
ENVIRONMENT
WEATHER
CULTURE
PERSONAL PREFERENCE
LIFESTYLE
MAGIC
Your schedule sets the amount of time you have to spend on food. If you have to hurry you’ll only make something that is quick and easy. And when you spend a lot of time on the road, then to-go meals are much more convenient than extensive home cooking.
Convenience / speed
Your personal situation is a major factor in determining your preferences. If you just got done working out a big heaping bowl of pasta seems like just the thing, but if you’re just chilling in the sun a light salad sounds a lot better.
Situation
Your mood decides what you’re craving. Suffering from heartbreak? Have some chocolate. Celebrating? Beer! Feeling tired and lethargic? Takeout seems good. Dinner guests? Time to show them what you can do in the kitchen.
Mood
During your life your brain develops in multiple ways, including your different flavor preferences. If you taste a certain product more consciously, then your brain is better at recognizing and evaluating the product when you eat it again. Your personal experience with the product makes you able to compare flavors, and say something about the quality. Development of liking creates new preferences.
Experience
Most people have different preferences for breakfast than for dinner. In the evenings you generally choose other dishes than in the morning, and in the weekends you have a different eating pattern than during the week.
Moment of the day
Your social environment determines which dishes are considered ‘normal’ to eat, and therefore what dishes you like. In a group you eat what the majority decides, you comply to the social behavior of the group. On a holiday you eat different things than at home, simply because the environment is different.
Environment
Weather and the change of seasons also play a large part in deciding what you like. Is it snowing outside? Bring on the soups, stews, and hot chocolate. Is the sun splitting the stones? We all scream for ice cream, fruits and fresh salads.
Weather
The culture in which you were raised plays a large part in determining your preferences. In India, for instance, people generally like spicy food, whereas in the Netherlands the dishes tend to be milder. In China it is acceptable to eat dog meat, Peruvians eat guinea pigs, and in Thailand a glass of snake’s blood is perfectly normal.
Culture
One person prefers sweet, another salty. One craves chocolate, while another despises the stuff. Your personal preferences determine which dishes you love, and which you hate. Some preferences can be hardwired by our DNA, for example fresh corriander. Some people like bitter, other people are very sensitive to bitterness. The preference for some flavors is acquired.
Personal preference
Your lifestyle is your way of making conscious decisions about what you eat. When you’re on a diet you will only let yourself eat certain things. If you’re a serious athlete, your nutritional needs will be vastly different from the average person.
Lifestyle
A harmonious, carefully composed dish is a wonderful thing, but it isn’t magic. A truly delicious, memorable dish needs to surprise, excite, and open your eyes to new possibilities. That magic spark is generated by sacrificing a tiny bit of harmony to create something unexpected, something chaotic. In that chaos, the ultimate flavor is realized.
Magic
Liking
Liking is about a person’s personal preferences. A dish could be objectively perfect according to the aforementioned six factors of culinary success, but if it isn't in line with the personal factors, people won't like it. So for the ultimate flavor experience the products should match the situation and personal likings.
About Peter Klosse
Dr. Peter Klosse is a lector in gastronomy at the Hotel Management School in Maastricht (the Netherlands).In 2004 he published his PhD thesis about flavor classification, a validated model to assess flavor objectively. Peter combines academics with practice. He owns a five star hotel and the Academy for Gastronomy to train chefs and sommeliers.
DELICIOUSNESS
LIKING
ABOUT PETER KLOSSE | TEXT: MAAIKE DE REUVER | DESIGN: ARJEN MOES
Peter Klosse’s flavor theory
Professor Peter Klosse’s theory of flavor describes how a dish can reach the pinnacle of flavor. For this two things are required: deliciousness,which is about the products themselves and the combination of six factors for culinary success, and liking, which is about the personal preferences of people tasting the dish.
Ingredients
Flavor begins with the right ingredients. The use of poor quality ingredients will never result in a high quality dish. Furthermore, a product’s ripeness greatly affects both its flavor and texture, and as a direct result those of your dish.
Your sense of smell is vitally important for your perception of flavor. The smells of coffee, freshly baked bread, and apple pie are all seen as positive. Whereas the smell of spoiled food is perceived negatively. Fun fact: women are more sensitive in smelling than men.
Aroma
A perfectly composed dish has an interesting mouthfeel. The ultimate dish has elements of coating (fatty/sweet), contracting (sour, salt, cold), and dry (crispy, bitter, hard).
Mouthfeel
The way in which you present a dish influences the flavor. Use different colors, shapes, and dimensions on the plate, as well as for the plate itself. Music which is played in the room, light and darkness and the room itself are all aspects of the meal experience as well.
Presentation
The presence of umami in a dish enhances the flavor as a whole. Umami is the flavor of a certain amino acid: glutamate. It enhances many flavors and raises the richness of the dish. Umami is naturally found in ripe tomatoes, mushrooms, peas, aged cow cheese, and seaweed.
Umami
Name
The name ofThe name of a dish raises expectations. It is very important that these expectations are met. So promises made by the name should at least be delivered.Watch out with health claims! Studies have shown issues like ‘healthy’ or ‘vegetarian’ may have adverse effects.
Balance
A well balanced dish has elements of the flavors salt, sweet, sour and bitter. Too much of any one flavor is bad, but not enough is equally negative. This doesn’t imply that all four elements are equally needed to be present in a dish. A hearty dish is better with a touch of sweet, sour and bitter. Likewise a sweet dish is better with a touch of salt, sour and bitter.
INGREDIENTS
Deliciousness
Deliciousness is the composition of flavor. It is a beautiful, harmonious combination of several factors that each influence the flavor of a product. Deliciousness doesn’t happen by accident. It is art, and the ultimate balance of these six factors for culinary success.
Want to know more?
Your schedule sets the amount of time you have to spend on food. If you have to hurry you’ll only make something that is quick and easy. And when you spend a lot of time on the road, then to-go meals are much more convenient than extensive home cooking.
Convenience
/ speed
Your personal situation is a major factor in determining your preferences. If you just got done working out a big heaping bowl of pasta seems like just the thing, but if you’re just chilling in the sun a light salad sounds a lot better.
Situation
Mood
Your mood decides what you’re craving. Suffering from heartbreak? Have some chocolate. Celebrating? Beer! Feeling tired and lethargic? Takeout seems good. Dinner guests? Time to show them what you can do in the kitchen.
During your life your brain develops in multiple ways, including your different flavor preferences. If you taste a certain product more consciously, then your brain is better at recognizing and evaluating the product when you eat it again. Your personal experience with the product makes you able to compare flavors, and say something about the quality. Development of liking creates new preferences.
Experience
Most people have different preferences for breakfast than for dinner. In the evenings you generally choose other dishes than in the morning, and in the weekends you have a different eating pattern than during the week.
Moment of the day
Your social environment determines which dishes are considered ‘normal’ to eat, and therefore what dishes you like. In a group you eat what the majority decides, you comply to the social behavior of the group. On a holiday you eat different things than at home, simply because the environment is different.
Environment
Weather and the change of seasons also play a large part in deciding what you like. Is it snowing outside? Bring on the soups, stews, and hot chocolate. Is the sun splitting the stones? We all scream for ice cream, fruits and fresh salads.
Weather
The culture in which you were raised plays a large part in determining your preferences. In India, for instance, people generally like spicy food, whereas in the Netherlands the dishes tend to be milder. In China it is acceptable to eat dog meat, Peruvians eat guinea pigs, and in Thailand a glass of snake’s blood is perfectly normal.
Culture
Personal preference
One person prefers sweet, another salty. One craves chocolate, while another despises the stuff. Your personal preferences determine which dishes you love, and which you hate. Some preferences can be hardwired by our DNA, for example fresh corriander. Some people like bitter, other people are very sensitive to bitterness. The preference for some flavors is acquired.
Lifestyle
Your lifestyle is your way of making conscious decisions about what you eat. When you’re on a diet you will only let yourself eat certain things. If you’re a serious athlete, your nutritional needs will be vastly different from the average person.
Magic
A harmonious, carefully composed dish is a wonderful thing, but it isn’t magic. A truly delicious, memorable dish needs to surprise, excite, and open your eyes to new possibilities. That magic spark is generated by sacrificing a tiny bit of harmony to create something unexpected, something chaotic. In that chaos, the ultimate flavor is realized.
Liking is about a person’s personal preferences. A dish could be objectively perfect according to the aforementioned six factors of culinary success, but if it isn't in line with the personal factors, people won't like it. So for the ultimate flavor experience the products should match the situation and personal likings.
Liking
