At the restaurant Siren by Robert Wiedmaier, pastry chef Maddy Morrissey uses marigold as the base for a Japanese dessert served with nasturtium leaves, flower petals and pineapple sage shortbread. Brian McBride/RWRestaurant Group hide caption
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Our choice of snacks is influenced by gender, age, income and even cultural flavor preferences. Maanvi Singh/for NPR hide caption
Cavitation produces a bubble that rapidly collapses and becomes hotter than the sun's surface. The mantis shrimp uses it, and now so do food and drink firms, to improve flavors — from yogurt to beer. Reinhard Dirscherl/ullstein bild via Getty Images hide caption
Japanese Chemist Dr. Kikunae Ikeda is credited with discovering MSG — one of the eight ingredients Lohman explores in her book. Peter Van Hyning hide caption
Flavor really does depend on how you slice it, experts tell us — though the reasons why are complicated. Paul Williams/Getty Images hide caption
A slice of pork belly, with a thick layer of fat. "If we confirm that fat is a basic taste quality, it's the equivalent of saying chartreuse is a primary color," Richard Mattes of Purdue University says. "It changes our basic understanding of what taste is." Xiao He/Flickr hide caption
Researchers at the University of Oxford have been looking for a link between sound and taste. iStockphoto.com hide caption
Why do cats have an affinity for mushrooms? Marco Varrone/iStockphoto.com hide caption