Americans expect an unnatural level of consistency from their foodstuffs.
Everyone in the Whole Foods conference room was sniffing a small plastic cup filled with a mysterious clear liquid, holding it to their nose as if it were a glass of fine wine.
“Sweet,” one person said.
“Salt,” decided the person next to her.
“Brown fruit,” the next dialed down.
As they continued around the room, people called out caramelized sugar, butterscotch, agave, umami, and molasses, addressing a woman at a whiteboard who looked like a Very Important Grandma in a black pantsuit with green lapels and giant pearl earrings. Her name was Myrna Fossum, and she trained companies in sensory evaluation.
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