Altered Taste International Symposium: 3rd edition

A changed relationship with food can occur for many reasons, from illness to aging to shifts in the food environment. The impact of this can range from a loss of pleasure in food and eating, to lower food intake and potential undernutrition, to diminished social engagement and even an altered relationships to oneself and the wider world. Sensory changes trigger disgust in foods once enjoyed, or even from the smell of a loved one. Food that was once delicious is now tasteless. Overall, altered taste and sensing can shift the valence of our encounters with food, cooking and eating, from being easy and enjoyable to being problematic and unpleasant.

In the 3rd International Symposium, are invited papers that consider these wider psychosocial and cultural dimensions of altered taste and eating. We will also address solutions to these problems, from the gastronomic to the social, to see how people cope with and compensate for altered taste. How does altered eating affect social relationships? What kinds of culinary solutions, strategies or interventions can address these issues above? How can we address the environmental dimensions of altered eating?