Tour guide to new taste universes

Never tried brown cheese with caviar? Lars Haugen Aardal is spearheading the development of the new taste laboratory and promises many exciting experiences.

Before Lars Haugen Aardal from Leikanger wrote his master's thesis on herring and got a teaching job in Bergen, he was very unsure whether he should become a chef or a chemist. Now he gets to use his knowledge and explore topics he is passionate about, as the person responsible for the development of a taste laboratory at the upcoming ViteMeir center.

He knows a lot about sensory research and chemistry, but in a taste laboratory, the experience is about anything but numbers and formulas. He himself has a few favorite combinations he is looking forward to sharing with others.

- Licorice and salmon! Mayonnaise and banana. My youngest loves brown cheese and caviar," he says. The aim is to inspire people to try things out, to make food a great pleasure in everyday life, and to explore how we experience the world through our sense of taste and smell. How do we talk about taste? What words are there? What happens when we mix different flavors?

"Lectoscope"

And why does a freshly picked apple from Sogn taste completely different from an apple that has traveled a long way?

- "SmaksLab wants to show that the taste experience can also be influenced by knowing where and how the apple is grown. "It's more than the taste chemistry itself that makes it taste better, especially when we have a good story or good memories associated with the apple," he says. "There really are whole new universes that open up in a SmaksLab.

- "Imagine an 'odoroscope' that can recreate the smells of different foods - the smell of yellow tombstone, fresh chanterelle mushrooms or your grandfather's deer stew. "With knowledge of the chemistry behind smell and taste, as well as high-tech equipment, it's possible to achieve something like this," he says.

From tradition to inspiration

Berekraft is important for the ViteMeir center, also in the development of SmaksLaben. Local involvement from suppliers is important. Lerum Fabrikar has already become a sponsor. Project manager at ViteMeir, Marianne Jevnaker, calls Trine Lerum a "godmother" for the idea of a taste lab, after a brainstorming session last year.

- Very nice! But I'm sure many of us had the same idea," says the managing director of the Lerum Group. She is very enthusiastic on behalf of the SmaksLab project.

- With the traditions we have for food and drink in this region, we must have a taste laboratory! All of us involved in the production and sale of food and drink locally should contribute," she says. The Lerum Group is among those who have supported ViteMeir from the start, through a cooperation agreement. But SmaksLab will not be about testing or finding commercial innovations for any particular producer.

Gift to the tourism industry

- We have our own laboratories for product development. For us, the point of SmaksLab is to help create interest in food and nutrition subjects, and we have a lot to gain from inspiring children and young people, which can strengthen recruitment to food education. In this way, Lerum as a company will benefit from the project in the long term," says the director. However, she believes that in addition to local food producers, it is the tourism industry that has the most to gain from the establishment of SmaksLab.

- It's this kind of inspiration at a young age that creates the chefs of the future. At the same time, we know that food experiences are at the top of many tourists' wish lists," says Lerum, who thus challenges the tourism industry to contribute further.

Strong layer

Many other good forces are also involved in the development of SmaksLab. Kristin Sætherdal Myhra and Eskil Norne Kveim, who work in teacher education at HVL, will create learning objectives linked to the academic focus areas at ViteMeir and anchor them in upcoming new curricula from autumn 2020. Svein Anders Dahl, retired director of VilVite in Bergen, is linked to the project as a science center advisor. Stein Joar Hegland at HVL has been heavily involved in the content work and has, among other things, prepared the report 􀎗Idegrunnlag for ViteMeir. Academic profile and idea sketches for innhald􀎗. Several academic environments at HVL are involved in the work of developing various ideas, such as SEFAL, various faculties and departments within sports, geology and renewable energy. Vestlandforsking has also set up its own working group of researchers who will contribute to the development of academic content.