Five SensES

how does our taste of food change?

How does our taste of food change depends on the music that's playing at the restaurant? How does our taste of food change depends on the color of the plates? How does our taste of food change depends on the people we are eating with? Lighting? Drinks? or even spoon & fork's textures and how that surface touch our tongues?

I am a huge foodie and an avid gastronomy follower. I appreciate not only the unique characteristics that each ingredient brings to the palette, but also the holistic harmony of the culmination of variously balanced ingredients that create a symphony in your mouth. 

SEE MORE. TASTE MORE. EXPERIENCE MORE. THEN YOU WILL QUESTION MORE. you will crave more.

My interest in culinary started to spark after I started traveling more often. Having my feet onto the lands of 29 different countries so far and my quirky curiosity towards trying the most unique and exotic food from each region definitely has broadened my palette and knowledge about food.

Moving forward, my passion in cooking started to spark when I moved out of my parents home. I finally had a kitchen for my own and time to cook, learn, and explore my cooking skills. I tried to imitate that fancy Michelin star-like plating and take photos, which ended up making me to microwave my food to eat.

I don't have any subscription related to TV shows. Yes I am often called an alien for not having Netflix. However, I watched most of the cooking shows like Masterchef or Food Network whenever I went to the gym. You know... those exercise machines with TV. I would go to the gym right on time when the new Masterchef would be airing. Yep. Not so good for work out strategy :) However, from working hard (literally), I started to pick up some techniques and knowledge about culinary world.

 design skills. oh wait... i see design in food.

I've worn many different hats during the four and half years I've been working at TEAGUE. Of course I've grown straightforward Industrial Design skills such as composition, design language, CMF, manufacturing, etc... but also skills like research and strategy, user testing but also user empathy. If I speak about the fields that I've worked on, there were furniture, packaging, high-end consumer electronics, lighting, branding, scent-related products, etc.

All these experience definitely shaped who I am as today and definitely changed my perspective of way to see, smell, touch, and hear my surroundings.

And by knowing how every element could impact us user's behavior, perception, and experience, I started to apply my learning experience into cooking.

Of course this will come in more details once I officially start this Wander entry, but here are some of the elements that I want to play with when I cook for the group in the future.

1. Food : What ingredients do I choose. What cuisine journey do I take my audiences through. Like a symphony.

2. Plating : What color combination, focal point of the composition, monochrome or complimentary color. What materials of plates, colors, utensils, cups, etc. 

3. Drink pairing : uh.... yeah the most important one.

4. Lighting & table setting

5. Music pairing

6. People And lastly, who are in this group?

How will each component change your taste of the exactly same food? 

MY WISH FOR TAKEAWAY

What I want to experiment and let people know is that food is just food. It could mean more than food or less than a collection of nutrients we need for our survival. The real importance is that what we take away from eating food. What we walk away from that one restaurant that you made a pleasant memory of. 

Maybe, it is the other surroundings that make your food taste good?

Once we realize that, maybe we will appreciate what surround us? harmony of space, effort put into creating that environment, each ingredient...

Which leads to two things :

people and nature.