They invented vanillin to mimic vanilla because the latter creates such powerful food memories that we’ll overlook all the things that are wrong with their processed goods. But there’s a new hot flavor working its way through their chemistry labs. This flavor is older than old. It goes back to the Miocene epoch of Africa, when Ardi had access to a particular fruit whose sweetness stoked her taste buds and stroked her powers of smell to carve deep channels into her memory banks.
