Interview with Marianne Gillette of McCormick & Company on the importance of culinary collaborations in new product development

There are an increasing number of collaborations between chefs and food scientists occurring in the food industry and academia^{1, 2, 3, 4}. Peer review journals^{5, 6} have been established, and conferences^{7, 8} developed that seek out culinary perspectives and the insights of chefs. In order to better understand the factors influencing these trends, and how they impact the food industry at large, I spoke with Marianne Gillette, Vice President of Applied Research at McCormick and Company, and the Immediate Past President of the Institute of Food Technologists. Below is a summary of the interview.

Chris Loss: As a food scientist, why do you think we are seeing these increasing connections between the culinary arts and food science? What impact will this have on food quality and safety?

Marianne Gillette, Vice President of Applied Research at McCormick and Company

Marianne Gillette: The global consumer has developed a more sophisticated palate and enjoys a wider range of foods and flavors...just take a look at the options in the supermarket. The consumer's demand for a broad variety of flavor experiences drives the market for those companies supplying Food, Beverage and Meals-Away-From-Home. In order to be competitive and succeed, these companies have recognized that one of the benefits of connecting culinary art to food science is acceleration of the new product development process. This collaboration is powerful and assures delightful flavor (culinary) from a safe and commercially feasible formula (food science).

Chris Loss: How does working with a chef speed up the new product development process?

Marianne Gillette: Food Scientists are the backbone of product development -the industry could not introduce or reformulate products without the science. This is so critical today as the industry moves to 'Clean Labels', 'All Natural' ingredient statements and Reduced Sodium products such as the rice mixes McCormick just introduced. At the same time, I know very few food scientists who also have the gift of creating wonderful food. Food scientists bring a broad science-based approach to problem solving, which is deliberate and thus generally relatively slow. Chefs move fast to create wonderful flavors and textures, with fewer practical constraints such as those the scientist is compelled to consider. The marriage of the Chef and the Scientist brings the innovation team rapidly to provocative new product concepts, which are rational, safe, and delicious.  At McCormick we also believe that the consumer must be a part of this design team, to help the chef create new products which are provocative, safe, rational, delicious...and desired by the target market.

Marinated Shrimp with Mango and Radishes Source: McCormick Flavor Forecast® 2011.

Chris Loss: I know that McCormick makes significant effort to foster interdisciplinary teams especially within R&D. What's an example of these collaborations, and what sort of insights result?

Marianne Gillette: McCormick has a powerful tool, the Flavor Forecast®, which brings together our consumer insights professionals and our culinary professionals to predict the flavor and spice trends 3-5 years out. We have a process to collect food and flavor trends and to identify the underlying principles of those trends in order to predict the future of flavor. Many of our predictions may seem odd to the average consumer at the time of the Forecast, and then familiar only a few years later.

Chris Loss: What's an example of a flavor or ingredient identified by the Flavor Forecast that was initially foreign but then eventually accepted?

Chefs and Food Scientists collaborate to rapidly develop new foodservice menu items. Source: McCormick Culinary

Marianne Gillette: Consider wasabi. How did the average consumer go from a fear of wasabi (referred to as "neophobia"), to consuming it regularly in a variety of foods? How did smoked paprika evolve into a kitchen 'must have' from an unknown spice? How did Roasted Cumin find a place at Dick and Jane's table? Consumers will easily adopt new flavors that are familiar...with a twist. Paprika is familiar, so are smoked foods...this one may be easy for a "neophobic" to adopt. The same may be true for Roasted Cumin. Wasabi took a little while, and was popularized through the growing youthful interest in sushi. The wasabi is familiar when it is connected to horseradish or mustard...and delivered on more familiar foods such as snacks.

Chris Loss: What is "neophobia," and why is it important for food industry professionals to be aware of?

Marianne Gillette: Food neophobia was originally described by Patricia Pliner⁹ as an inherent reluctance of consumers to consume new or unusual foods, which can be a concern when developing new products for emerging markets, or when trying to get young people to eat their vegetables. We have conducted studies to characterize the demographics of neophobia¹⁰, and it seems to increase with age, but decrease with increasing education and income.

Global consumers enrich our cuisine with novel foods ... which are most appealing to neophilics. Source: McCormick and Co, Inc.

Chris Loss: That's interesting. Some work we are doing with seniors, to better understand their food and dining preferences, suggests that a sub group are reluctant to try menu items that have foreign sounding names and they are disappointed when foods are plated in novel configurations. Perhaps this is a reflection of a neophobic subgroup within this population.

Marianne Gillette: When developing new products, it is critical to understand the proportion of neophobics in the consumer target...and in each consumer test. Neophobics can kill a great project by depressing the acceptance score...or kill a launch by not being ready for the concept. A good new product development motto: Know your Neophobics!

Chris Loss: Although "neophobia" is a new term for culinary professionals, I think the general concept is probably well understood from an empirical standpoint. The livelihood and passion of chefs is often driven by their creativity, which continuously leads them to try new ingredients and new techniques. The challenge then becomes introducing these new foods in a flavor context that will pique the curiosity and engage the customer, but not surprise or confuse them. An exception might be some of the extreme modernist cuisine techniques where sensory incongruity is integral to the flavor concept or experience the chef is creating.

Marianne Gillette: Most people do enjoy "dynamic contrast" of flavors and textures¹¹, but when you are introducing more novel foods or flavors...we would recommend associating the new menu item with something familiar....a novel flavor paired with a trusted familiar food makes the new flavor much more approachable.

Chris Loss: Thank you for sharing your unique and valuable perspective. This has been a fascinating discussion. Through your R&D efforts at McCormick, and your generous support of the MRFDI, the connections between the art and science of cooking will definitely be strengthened, leading to healthier food choices and more satisfied consumers.