Can We Eat with Our Ears? Gastronuts

Let's find out what this week's task is.

"Can we eat with our ears?"

The Gastronuts joining me on this week's show are:

The sound that would really want to make me taste something

would be the sound of frying

because the sound alone makes you want to taste it.

Somebody might think it might be horrible

if it sounds squishy and nasty.

I like the sound of popcorn when it's in the microwave.

'Coming up on today's show:

'the Gastronuts gorge on the world's stinkiest fish dish.'

It's kind of a squidgy texture.

'I find out how much saliva

'a juicy sweet can generate.'

How undignified was that?!

'And we do a blind tasting

'in a restaurant where you dine in the dark.'

It's really strange

and it just makes your taste buds really eager

to see what's going in your mouth.

BURP!

That's coming up later. First, can we eat with our ears?

That's a weird question. What do you think?

-Probably not.

-Probably not.

Is it about the senses? Weird question, isn't it?

-What are the different senses?

-Taste.

-Touch.

-Sound.

-Smell.

-Sight.

-So there's the five senses. That's how

we appreciate the world around us. What's the most important one

-when it comes to eating?

-Taste.

-Taste.

It's got to be taste, hasn't it?

'Trying literally to eat with your ears would be messy and pointless,

'unless you were eating ear muffins. But, amazingly, what you hear

'can affect what you taste. What have you got in front of you?

-MP3 player.

-MP3 player.

Exactly, and some headphones and some bowls of food.

We're going to find out if...when we play different sounds to you

while you're eating these foods, whether they taste different, OK?

First of all, take yourself a prawn.

Everyone like prawns?

Have a little taste.

That's a nice prawn. Now, headphones on.

OK, guys, press play.

-So that's the sound of the seaside.

-SEAGULLS MEW

Now have another prawn...

..and think if it's changed the way that it tastes.

'Some top restaurants are handing out headphones and knives and forks

'because they've discovered sounds can make

'food taste more intense. It's handy if you can't be bothered talking

'to the person you're eating with.'

OK, press pause.

He's lost in music. Look at him.

He's still going. Seb, take the headphones off now!

Oh, you're there! You all right?

-Did it change the way that it tasted?

-Yeah.

-In what way?

-Yeah, it was fishier.

-Fishier?

-I also think it tasted fishier.

-I think it tasted fishy as well.

It was amazing. So basically we've put ourselves

in a different world by invoking the seaside and then eating something.

It's actually manipulated the way that we respond to food.

OK, next one is some chicken.

Take a little taste of chicken first.

Hmm. Chickeny, isn't it?

Headphones on.

Ready? Press play.

CHICKENS CLUCKING

HE CHUCKLES

OK, take another piece of chicken.

COCKEREL CROWS

OK, headphones off.

Did it change the way

-the chicken tasted?

-I think it tasted saltier.

-Saltier?

-I don't think so.

-It was exactly the same?

-Yeah.

It's quite a strange thing. On one side,

you've got a bit of dead chicken and then,

in your ears, you've got some live chicken.

Really interesting that you said it tasted saltier because salt

is one of the four main flavours. So if it tasted a little bit saltier,

it means that the flavours and tastes are more intense.

Now, take a piece of beef.

Taste beefy? Headphones on.

Press play.

COWS MOO

OK, take another piece of beef.

Close your eyes.

OK, brilliant, well done, guys. Headphones off.

I'm still mooing.

-So what did you think?

-It tasted a bit more strong.

-The beefiness was stronger or parts of the taste?

-The beefiness.

-Henry?

-I think it tasted stronger as well.

-It tasted stronger. Yeah. Sonya?

-Yeah, stronger.

And maybe it's partly because you're concentrated on what's going on

in your mouth a bit more. OK, now,

last one. Grab that last bowl there.

OK, headphones on.

OK, have a little taste.

-What does that taste like?

-Baked beans.

-Baked beanie, kind of beanie?

Have another little taste. A big spoonful.

And press play.

PPPRRRPPHHHT! PRRRPPPLLLRRT! PRRPT!

PRRPPPTT! PRPPT! PRRPPPT! PRRRLLLPPT! PPRRRP! PPPRRRPT!

PARPING CONTINUES

-CHUCKLES

-OK, stop.

Whoever recorded that was really ill! Now,

did any of you feel more farty?

-No.

-No? You didn't get any of that?

That was just a bit of fun.

So, farting aside, do you think that sound

changes the way that we taste food?

It depends on what the sound is and what you're tasting.

When I had the beef, it had a stronger taste.

And when I had the prawns,

the seaside changed the way that the prawns tasted.

Did you really not want to fart a little bit more

-after you heard the farting noises?

-No.

-You are powerful guys.

CHOMP! CHOMP!

Our sense of touch is another really important way

that our brains analyse what we're eating. When we put some foods

in our mouths, our mouths begin to water,

and this happens really well with sweet foods.

Our mouths produce saliva

as the first step in digesting and breaking down our foods.

If I put a sweet in my mouth, it's going to be incredibly hard

to stop myself from swallowing.

'Sugar is broken down very easily in the body

'and saliva starts doing the job in our mouths.

'Because I'm not swallowing the sweet,

'my mouth is going into overdrive

'and creating an enormous amount of drool.'

Oh, dear.

How undignified was that?!

Some foods have the opposite effect -

they can create a dryness in your mouth. Tea and unripe bananas

have a special chemical in them that can do this to you.

Let's have a little try.

SNIGGERS

This is a nice green banana.

Mmm...

you get this kind of dry, claggy, furry feeling

on your tongue from things like this.

To get the ultimate dry mouth, I'm going to take a challenge - to eat

five cream crackers in under a minute without drinking any water.

'In some ways, cream crackers taste how they feel

'rather than having a flavour, and that's because

'instead of being juicy, they suck up the moisture in our mouths.'

INDISTINCT MUMBLING

What's amazing about that

is I couldn't swallow any of it.

I got them in my mouth but I couldn't actually eat them.

OK, maybe I need a sweet to give me some saliva.

Can I have some sweets, please?

'So our sense of touch does actually play

'an important role in how we taste food.

'But what about other senses?'

We're going to test what happens when we remove our sense of smell

and try tasting foods and see if you can guess the right ones.

'Everyone needs to wear specially customised gastro-goggles.

'These stop us from seeing and smelling what we're about to eat.'

I'm going to give you a different piece of food

and I want you to guess what it is, OK? Let's try.

'I've prepared three hidden foods for the Gastronuts to try.

The idea is, without smelling the foods,

'the Gastronuts will struggle to tell what they are.'

'Let's start with an easy one - strawberry-flavoured sweets.'

What sort of experience have you got in your mouth now?

Definitely a sweet.

I've got a thweet there. It's a sweet.

But the question is a bit more complicated.

What flavour sweet is it? Seb, what do you think?

-Strawberry?

-You reckon it's strawberry. Henry?

-Strawberry.

-You reckon it's strawberry as well.

OK. Sonya?

-Strawberry.

-Strawberry, too.

'Not bad, but the sweet was easy.

'Will the Gastronuts be able to identify the cucumber

'without being able to smell it?'

It feels like a piece of vegetable, like celery or something.

-Very, very good.

-Maybe some kind of melon.

-Melon, yeah.

'If we take away their texture by mushing them up,

'will the Gastronuts be able to tell

'they're scoffing on Brussels sprouts?'

-Henry, what do you reckon that is?

-Mushed-up broccoli.

That's a pretty good answer.

-I have no idea.

-You have no idea? Take a guess.

-Avocado?

-Masks off.

So, the first food that you had, what did you all guess it was?

-Strawberry sweet.

-Strawberry sweet, and you got it spot-on.

I wonder if that's because there's not much natural flavour in that?

-OK, the second one you thought, Sonya?

-Was celery.

-Celery.

-And Henry, you thought it was?

-Melon.

Melon, which was a great answer as well.

Both those are really good answers

because it has the texture of celery or melon. So, the last one,

what do you reckon that is?

-It looks like Brussels sprouts.

-It's Brussels sprouts, exactly.

That surprised me cos it tasted very much like broccoli

and had little bits in it like the ends of broccoli.

OK, that was a really good start. Put the masks back on.

'To test just how important smell is to flavour,

'I've got my hands on one of the most disgusting foods on earth.

'On this plate is a Scandinavian delicacy called surstromming.

'It translates as "rotten herring that honks

"worse than a skunk with a fungal infection between its stinky toes".

'And it tastes just like it smells.

'But without being able to smell the stench, will the Gastronuts

'be able to stomach it?

'There's no way I'm taking another mouthful of that.'

Ready? One, two, three.

'A minute to go, I was gagging on this putrid-smelling fish.

'But with their sense of smell removed, will the Gastronuts

'be able to tell they're chewing on something that stinks like a sewer?'

It's kind of a soft, kind of squidgy texture.

-Soft and squidgy.

-I think it's some sort of fish.

-A sort of fish.

-Slimy.

-Bit slimy.

Masks off, everyone.

Well, this is what it is.

Have a little sniff of that. Whoa!

Cor, it's quite strong, isn't it? Well done, guys.

I have to say, you are serious Gastronuts

cos this is renowned as being the most disgusting food on the planet.

So, basically, when you take away

your sense of smell, it transforms the way that you taste food.

-BURP!

-I can't believe these guys.

They have the best stomachs I've ever come across,

because most people have this incredible urge to be sick.

When I tried it with the mask off,

all I thought was, "I want to be sick!"

They powered through because we'd taken away one of the senses,

we'd taken away the sense of smell

and left them with what's going on in their mouth.

How can you make popcorn that tastes like spaghetti Bolognese?

Let me show you. We'll take a little bit

of every chef's favourite toy, liquid nitrogen...

and pour it into this bowl.

And then we'll spray into it a mixture of tomato water.

That's simply tomatoes passed through

a processor and then filtered through muslin,

so you get this very fine liquid, and then mixed with olive oil.

So let's squirt it into our nitrogen.

And you will see that immediately

we get tiny little popcorn-like nuggets.

Let's just try one.

Cold popcorn.

But why does this happen?

Well, when we spray our mixture of olive oil and tomato into the really

cold liquid nitrogen - it's at minus 196 degrees Celsius -

what happens is that it freezes instantly

and at the same time the liquid nitrogen boils,

and so what you get are tiny little frozen bubbles

of what looks like popcorn.

And when you pop them in your mouth...

mmm, hey presto,

they're just fantastic, like la mamma used to make.

'We're trying to find out if we can eat with our ears.

'So far, the Gastronuts have listened to their lunch.'

-I think the taste is stronger.

-Yeah.

'Coming up: I put my mouth on the line by eating

'the hottest chillies on the planet.'

OK, that's not a chilli heat. That's a fire going off in your head.

Oh...

'And the Gastronuts step into the dark for a freaky blind tasting.'

It's a good experience cos you don't know what you're eating.

'I'm going to try a little experiment with the Gastronuts

'to see if we don't just taste

'with our senses but also with our brains.

'In secret, I've poured cola into some glasses and some plastic cups.

'It's all from the same bottle, but will the Gastronuts' brains

'tell them it tastes different depending on what it's drunk from?'

Grab a glass.

So what does it feel like?

-Cold.

-The glass is sort of cold and...

-Hard.

-Cold and hard. OK, now have little taste of the drink inside it.

What does it taste like?

Fizzy.

Fizzy. It's a cola. Now have a little taste of the other one.

-How does that feel?

-Soft.

-Soft.

Have a little taste of the drink. In what way are those two different?

-This one's fizzier than that one.

-It's fizzier?

-Yeah.

They look the same but they just taste different.

The other one wasn't as fizzy as this one

and maybe this one is a bit sweeter.

I don't know if you guessed, but they are exactly the same cola

but they're in different kind of glasses. But it's the way

that you feel the drink before it gets into your mouth.

'Amazingly, the Gastronuts have fooled themselves into thinking

'there were two different colas even though it was from the same bottle.

'Can I weird their brains more with this next strange taste sensation?'

-Who likes marshmallows?

-Me.

-They're great, aren't they?

Grab yourself a marshmallow.

Before you eat it, have a little squeeze.

-What does it feel like?

-A sponge.

-Yes.

-What do marshmallows taste of?

-Sweet sponge.

-Sweet sponge.

Have a little taste.

Do you like that?

OK, so now I've got some more. Grab one of these little fellows.

Have a little squish. What's that marshmallow like?

-Squishier.

-Certainly squishy.

-But still, when you pick that up, you'd expect...

-Sweet.

Have a little try, see what you think.

That tastes like spaghetti Bolognese.

-Spaghetti Bolognese.

-Spicy.

-Yeah.

-Is that what you were expecting?

-No.

-No?

Well, that's basically streaky bacon flavoured.

Really don't like it.

-Why's that?

-Because it's peppery in your mouth and you were expecting

something really sweet and nice.

-But do you like bacon flavour crisps?

-Yes.

All those things are really good, but when we confuse our brains

by making something look like one thing

and our taste says it's something else, we think it's disgusting.

And yet you love marshmallows and you love bacon flavour crisps.

Why is the combination disgusting?

Because you never really expect it to be like that.

And the touch, what it feels like,

has made you expect something different. It's crazy, isn't it?

That's what happens when you mess with your brain,

when you change your expectations about food.

'It looks like the Gastronuts can't get over

'having their taste buds scrambled.'

That was a good marshmallow. The one we just tried,

the streaky bacon one, was yucky.

-Still got it attached to my fingers.

-Yeah.

But I didn't really expect it to be that flavour.

You put the whole thing in your mouth straightaway.

It's cos I didn't expect it to be streaky bacon.

I expected it to be sweet like the other ones.

'There's one food we don't just taste but which also changes

'the way our mouths actually feel.

'These are a selection of the world's fieriest chillies.

'How much of their heat can I take before my senses say, "No"?'

In Eastern food, the spice that you get from chillies

is a really, really important part of flavour, so I thought

I'd go on a little challenge to see just how much spiciness I can take.

I thought I'd start with bell peppers. Really nice.

They've got a Scoville rating of less than 100.

Mmm, not spicy at all, really.

Next up...

..jalapeno peppers.

These have got a Scoville rating of 2,500.

This is proper chillies.

OK, let's give it a bit of a bite.

FIRE ALARM WAILS

Aww!

Fine at first and then you get a burning sensation

all over your mouth. The moment I have the first

hit of chilli, I get instant hiccups.

CHUCKLES

OK, the hiccups have subsided.

My lips are stinging and my eyes are watering,

but now it's time for the next one.

Scotch bonnets. These fellows

have a Scoville rating of 250,000.

That's quarter of a million.

Remember, the Scoville Scale was invented in 1912

to measure the heat of chillies.

Heart's beating quite fast. I'm not sure if this is such a good idea.

Aw, that's hot.

Oh, that's hot.

OK, well, I'm feeling quite confident now cos that wasn't...

Oh, actually, no, it's getting worse. Wooh...

I'm going to try the last one.

This is the naga jolokia.

Small, wizened, even more terrifying-looking. It's so hot

that it comes with a pair of gloves.

You should never touch your own skin with these chillies.

These fellows rate at one million on the Scoville scale.

-COUGHS

-That's not a chilli heat.

That's a fire going off in your head. Wooh...!

-My body is struggling with this one.

-HICCUP!

What I really need now is some milk,

cos milk is the only thing that breaks down the chilli sensation.

Can I have some milk, please?

Ahh!

GARGLING

'Having blown my socks off with some chillies,

'it's now time for the strangest taste test of the lot.

'We're all going to a restaurant called Dans Le Noir,

'which translates as "in the dark",

'to see what food tastes like when you can't see it.'

-How are you?

-Hi, Stefan.

-These are the Gastronuts.

-Welcome, Gastronuts.

Welcome to a fantastic, unique gastronomic experience.

You are going to follow Roberto and form a line.

Who's going to be the bravest?

'Like all the waiters here, Roberto is blind

'so he's used to not seeing what he eats. How will the Gastronuts find

'being left to dine in the dark?'

Is everyone there?

-Yes.

-OK, right, here we are.

We are just about approaching the table now.

'The Gastronuts and I are in complete darkness

'and only our night-vision cameras allow you to see us.'

How do you feel? OK? Let me explain to you all.

In front of you, you have a folded napkin with a knife and fork in. OK?

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

What's the experience?

What happens when you take away your sense of sight?

It's just really weird because you haven't really experienced it before.

It's kind of unique as well, so it just feels all...different.

This is Lyall Giddings, head chef at Dans Le Noir.

He thinks the Gastronuts will find eating in the dark

helps their sense of taste.

I think they'll enjoy the flavours

as they're not seeing the food, so they're getting to taste things

and let their imagination run on what they're actually eating.

'We'll soon find out

'as for their starter, Lyall is serving raw tuna and salmon

'wrapped in courgette with a balsamic vinegar sauce.'

I've got your starters.

-OK, here you are.

-Eugh, it's stuff that's slimy.

Eurgh...

-it's all slimy.

-When you touch it.

-Yeah, it's slimy.

-Eugh!

-It's food.

Oh, my gosh.

'With their sight removed,

'the Gastronuts are turning to their other senses, like touch and smell,

'to try and work out what they're eating.'

One thing for sure here, you can't say, "It looks good."

STEFAN LAUGHS

So you have to taste it and smell it.

Enjoy your meal.

-You're kind of stabbing into the dark.

-I'm going to use my fingers.

-I think it's cheese.

-Mmm? Ooh!

-Ooh!

-Ooh! That's nice.

-That is really nice.

A cheese wrapped up in something.

Ahh. Have a little smell.

Smells like salad.

-I think it's the salad dressing, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Oh, look... It's falling apart!

-I think it's pepper it's wrapped in, pepper skin.

-A bit of pepper maybe.

It's really strange and it just makes your taste buds

really eager to see what you're putting in your mouth.

So you find yourself more excited about each mouthful?

Probably excited and probably scared.

'For the main course, Lyall's cooked up a dish

'which will keep the Gastronuts guessing.

'They're being treated to ostrich fillet and turkey breast

'topped with prunes and Gruyere sauce and accompanied by risotto.'

-OK?

-Fantastic.

Roberto, you're a star. Thank you very much.

-This food is... I think it's pasta.

-So do I.

I think you have to use knife and fork cos it's quite sloppy.

But then you've got to feel to find out where the food is.

It's kind of different things.

-There's meat.

-Yes, it tastes like meat.

It's a good experience cos you don't know what you're eating,

so it might look disgusting, but when you try it in the dark

and you don't know what it looks like, it might taste delicious.

This experience wasn't so bad.

Did you really think

-we'd try and give you something horrific?

-Yep.

-Why would you think that?

-I don't know. It's Gastronuts.

THEY CHUCKLE

-Wow, that's so bright!

-I don't like...

-Wow! Oh, my...

So... It's too bright?

Who's covered in food? None of us!

Who survived?

'We've not only survived,

'but we've learnt how important

'ALL our senses are in experiencing food.'

OK, Gastronuts, you've done absolutely brilliantly.

-Can we eat using our ears?

-ALL:

-Yes.

Yeah, and what else is there?

-Touch.

-Touch.

-Smell.

-Smell.

-Sight.

-Sight.

-Taste.

Who'd have thought that taste would be bottom of the list?

Well, you've earned yourselves the ultimate flavour sensation.

So headphones on, everyone.

Are you ready to go? Would you close your eyes

and treat yourself

to the ultimate flavour sensation.

Press play and tuck in.

SIZZLING

-Is it good?

-ALL:

-Yeah.

-Happy now?

-ALL:

-Yeah.

That has been one of the most

bizarre and amazing journeys of my entire life.

At times, it's felt a bit like we've been under attack.

That's exactly what it is,

because we're messing with all of our senses.

So we don't just eat with our ears.

We eat with our brains.

Now, THAT'S a weird thought.

I'll think differently about eating,

because if you look at something, it might look disgusting,

but if you try the food, it might taste delicious.

My favourite bit was when we had the blindfolds on

and we ate the food, because it was a kind of mystery

what we were going to eat and it's made me

curious about eating other foods.

I think being a Gastronut has changed the way I think about food,

because it's easy to just judge how food is by the way it looks.

And it's like they say don't judge a book by its cover -

don't judge food by its look.

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