科学制造的美味

The late night munchies. We've all had them. And we've all given into them — sitting on the couch, watching a movie, and suddenly realizing we've eaten nearly an entire bag of chips. How did that happen?

午夜时分，你正坐在沙发上看着电影。突然，你意识到自己已经吃了差不多一大袋薯片或薯条。我们可能都有过上述这样的经历，这到底是怎么发生的呢?

Here's some food for thought (pun intended). What if we told you that a bag of chips is designed for exactly that purpose — for you to empty it without thinking?

这是因为薯片或者薯条等加工食品就是为了这个目的而设计的——让你不假思索地消灭它。

Most of us won't take an entire chocolate cake out of the fridge and absentmindedly eat the whole thing, but chips and other processed foods are a different story. Why? It's all about something called the "bliss point."

我们中的大多数人不会把一整个巧克力蛋糕从冰箱里拿出来，毫不费力地吃完。但是薯片和其他加工食品则是另外一回事。为什么会这样呢?这就要从所谓的“满足点”说起了。

The bliss point of processed food is the point where food reaches the level of being as delicious as possible, yet not so satisfying that we don't want more. To take it back to the chocolate cake example, a chocolate cake will end up being sweet enough at some point that we'll feel satisfied and stop eating. With processed (or junk) food, however, we never really hit that "my taste buds are sated" level.

比如我们提到的那块巧克力蛋糕，它最终会使我们感到太甜了，这样我们会感到足够满意并停止进食。而加工食品则会达到一种尽可能美味的程度，但又不那么令你满意，这样一来，你就会一直感到意犹未尽并想要进食更多的加工食品。

How do food scientists formulate the foods we'll like the most?

那么科学家们是如何来做到这一点的呢?

The bliss point is a ratio of three nutrients our bodies are programmed to seek out: fat, sugar and salt. These three compounds trigger all 10,000-plus of our taste buds and send a message to the pleasure receptors of our brains that makes us think, "More! More!" Natural foods also have these three nutrients, but not in the perfect bliss point ratio where we don't feel satisfied. Science, however, has taken care of that.

让我慢慢给你们解释：“满足点”其实是我们的身体想要的脂肪、糖和盐这三种营养物质的比例。这三种化合物触动我们的一万多个味蕾，使其向我们大脑的愉悦感受器发出信息，让我们想要“更多”。天然食物中当然也含有这三种营养物质，但是其比例不是让我们想一直进食的完美“满足点”。不过，科学已经解决了这个问题。

Fat, sugar and salt all work together to make food taste better and make us want more. Fat gives foods like chips and crackers a smoother texture. Salt masks the chemical taste of processed food and is the cheapest spice around. Sugar hits the pleasure points in our brains and increases the shelf life of products. Food manufacturers can tweak the ratios of fat, sugar and salt, and then exhaustively taste test products until they reach the right bliss point with consumers. Bliss points determine a food's crave level, which in turn determines sales and profit.

脂肪、糖和盐都可以使食物更加美味，让我们想要进食更多。脂肪能让薯条和饼干这样的食物更加柔滑。盐掩盖了加工食品的化学味道，是最便宜的香料。糖会“击中”我们大脑中的愉悦点。食品制造商会调整脂肪、糖和盐的比例，然后用尽全力来测试产品，直到产品达到消费者们的“满足点”。“满足点”决定了我们对食物的渴望水平，这也就影响了食物的销售和利润。

One well-known example of bliss point research is Dr. Pepper soda. When attempting to formulate a new flavor, the company went through 61 formulas and 4,000 tasting events, which allowed their food scientists to continually tweak the recipe until they found the ultimate bliss point. The resulting soda was Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, one of the company's most successful products ever.

澎泉苏打水就是一个充分利用“满足点”的例子。当该公司试图开发新口味时，他们使用了61个配方并进行了4000次品尝活动，这使得他们的食品科学家能够不断调整配方，直到他们找到完美的“满足点”。由此诞生的樱桃香草味苏打水也成为了该公司最成功的产品之一。