Yi Zhou
Subjective Experience, Objective Curiosity
-
Do you believe ‘wine glasses affect wine flavor’? It sounded like marketing speak. That changed until I attended a tasting led by a brand VP, where we went through how different glass shapes influence wine perception. For the first time, I started to think there might be science behind it. Wine flavor perception sits at…
-
How do you describe the flavor of a wine? You may hear or use words like ‘honey’, ‘blackberry’, or ‘straw’. But have you ever stopped to ask why those particular words come to mind? At a typical wine tasting, the host usually offers at least a brief description of the aromas and flavors in the…
-
The Human Drive to Predict Fate The human brain has a functional preference: it is always predicting. Constantly drawing on past experiences, it seeks to reduce a certain level of fear of uncertainty—something deeply rooted in human nature. Perhaps this is why nearly every civilization has developed its own way of “calculating fate.” In China,…
-
A recent research paper exploring the reformulation of recipes with spices to enhance flavor—thereby reducing salt and saturated fat intake—sparked a thought: Will people refuse food that isn’t tasty? My belief is no, and my own experience of eliminating sugar for many years stands testament to this. Humans have an innate inclination towards sugary, fatty,…
Yi Zhou 