Food, and flavor matrix

Living well in the 21st century. Limassol, Cyprus. The food matrix: food is more than the sum of its nutrients. A picture below it is showing muscles.
Image credit: DANNES WEGMAN

What is Food Matrix?

In nutrition term; the food matrix contains several compounds – macronutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and micronutrients such as vitamins & minerals. Other complex compounds are found in certain food items; just depends on what you’re eating. Joseph from foodaidquality.org defines it as follows, “The food matrix can be defined as the nutrient and non-nutrient components of foods and their molecular relations to each other (USDA NAL Glossary, 2015). Consequently, it is of
utmost importance in food product research to develop a detailed understanding of the time-dependent transient changes in the structural aspects of food matrices from raw material harvesting to product processing, to the point of breakdown during shelf life, consumption and final digestion. Understanding the mechanism of processing or breakdown and absorption or the bioavailability of nutrients from ingested food is an important aspect while designing functionally-superior foods rather than looking at foods from the nutritional content point of view.” For example, vegetables and fruits have external factors such as the soil which they grow in. This affects the final product of the food. A cucumber bought from QFC doesn’t taste the same as the one found at the farmers market. This in turn can give a change in the nutrient availability for your body. So, we have to look at the whole picture of the food item – planting, soil, processing, packaging, and final delivery to the customer. As you can see, food matrix deals with a lot of internal and external factors. The example shown in Journal of Food and Function provides an example of food matrix, the whole picture, and how the body absorbs nutrients based on the food item eaten.

What is flavor matrix?

Living well in the 21st century. Limassol, Cyprus. The flavor matrix - the art and science of pairing common ingredients to create extraordinary dishes. Author: James Briscione with Brooke Parkhurst.

This book teaches you about the science of flavor, how to pair taste, how to pair flavors, and explains the flavor combination based on a chart shown below:

Living well in the 21st century. Limassol, Cyprus. A chart of the egg from the flavor matrix.
the larger the slice, the better it pairs with the featured ingredient. The featured ingredient above is the egg and the best pairing for egg is dairy. Also, the middle of the chart features the primary aromas that are released when featured & complementary ingredients are combined.

The book will help your creative juices to start working, and in turn, you’ll be a creative cook. Also, you’ll learn about interesting and wild ingredient combinations. For example, on page 134, I found the combination of green beans with tea, pineapples, or vanilla interesting.

Let me know which ingredients you found to have an interesting aroma & flavor. There are so many to try in the book. Combining both flavor matrix with food matrix came out of chance. I was thinking about food matrix, and while looking through my books; the topic of flavor matrix sounded like a great combination. I think it gives you an overall understanding of food science & nutrition all in one. This will help you think about how food works, composition & at the same time the flavor profiles you can use during cooking.

References

  1. Joseph, Michael; Alavi, Sajid; Johnson, Quentin; Walton, Shelley; and Webb, Patrick. 2018. Food matrices: A review of critical factors impacting nutritional bioavailability, Report to USAID. Boston, MA: Tufts University. Website: https://foodaidquality.org/sites/default/files/uploads/Food%20Matrices%20Literature%20Review%20%28FINAL%20for%20FFP%29%2014%20December%202018%20%281%29.pdf
  2. What is the Food matrix? HIIP (2019). High Intensity Interval Protocol and Nutritional Fitness. Website: https://www.hiip.com/2018/02/15/what-is-the-food matrix/#:~:text=Processed%20foods%20have%20an%20altered%20food%20matrix%2C%20which,source%20of%20dietary%20fiber%20in%20grain%2C%20the%20bran.
  3. Briscione, James (2018). The Flavor Matrix – the art and science of pairing common ingredients to create extraordinary dishes.
  4. Peters, Stephan. (2017). The food matrix: food is more than the sum of its nutrients. Voeding Magazine. 2017. 1-4. Website: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318661071_The_food_matrix_food_is_more_than_the_sum_of_its_nutrients

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