Presentation Information
[3SBT-16]Beyond Taste: Exploring the “Something Missing” in Plant-Based Foods
○Kenichi Tomi1 (1. Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. (Japan))
Keywords:
Plant-Based Food,Future Food
Plant-based foods have attracted significant attention in recent years as a response to global issues such as environmental concerns and animal welfare. However, this growing interest has not yet led to major changes in consumer behavior. Rather than encouraging consumers to eat plant-based foods out of a sense of obligation or compromise, our goal is to create products that people genuinely want to eat.
To achieve this, we have focused not only on improving taste, but also on addressing the subtle sense of “something missing” that many people experience when eating plant-based foods. This feeling, often described in Japanese as “mono-tarinai”, is not just about flavor or nutrition. It reflects a sense of incompleteness that is hard to explain but clearly affects satisfaction.
Traditional food development often tries to improve taste by analyzing and adjusting ingredients and physical properties. However, this approach alone may not resolve the “something missing” problem. To explore alternative possibilities, we used abductive reasoning to build a new hypothesis about the cause of this feeling.
Specifically, we hypothesize that the perceived sense of incompleteness may be related to the physical state and interaction of fats and proteins in the food. We believe that the way these components coexist and interact plays a key role in delivering a satisfying eating experience.
Based on this hypothesis, we have developed new plant-based food products designed to address this sensory gap and enhance overall satisfaction. In this talk, I will explain our hypothesis in more detail, share examples of our product development, and discuss what this approach could mean for the future of plant-based foods.
To achieve this, we have focused not only on improving taste, but also on addressing the subtle sense of “something missing” that many people experience when eating plant-based foods. This feeling, often described in Japanese as “mono-tarinai”, is not just about flavor or nutrition. It reflects a sense of incompleteness that is hard to explain but clearly affects satisfaction.
Traditional food development often tries to improve taste by analyzing and adjusting ingredients and physical properties. However, this approach alone may not resolve the “something missing” problem. To explore alternative possibilities, we used abductive reasoning to build a new hypothesis about the cause of this feeling.
Specifically, we hypothesize that the perceived sense of incompleteness may be related to the physical state and interaction of fats and proteins in the food. We believe that the way these components coexist and interact plays a key role in delivering a satisfying eating experience.
Based on this hypothesis, we have developed new plant-based food products designed to address this sensory gap and enhance overall satisfaction. In this talk, I will explain our hypothesis in more detail, share examples of our product development, and discuss what this approach could mean for the future of plant-based foods.
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