The first UAB Chair in Neurogastronomy is created
The UAB, the firm Alàbriga S’Agaró and the Catalan Culinary Heritage Institute have signed an agreement to establish the Chair of Neurogastronomy - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona at the initiative of the Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine of the UAB. This is the first chair in the world in this field and aims to improve the understanding of the gastronomic experience from a scientific perspective.
The agreement for the creation of the Chair was signed today at the UAB by Javier Lafuente, rector of the UAB; Valeri Scherer, administrator of Alàbriga S'Agaró; and Pepa Aymamí, executive director of the Catalan Culinary Heritage Institute. The Chair is an initiative of Professor Antonio Bulbena of the Area of Psychiatry of the Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine of the UAB and director of the department. It will be attached to this department and will promote research, training and dissemination activities in the field of neurogastronomy.
The main objective of the Chair in Neurogastronomy - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona is to study, understand and research the mechanisms that influence the perception and experience of food, as well as the culinary techniques and technologies to improve them and make them more appetising and healthier at the same time. Research will investigate how the brain influences the perception and enjoyment of food, with multidisciplinary approaches including cognitive neuroscience, health, psychology, marketing and design.
World’s first chair in neurogastronomy
This chair, which will be the first in this field worldwide, has its roots in the study of neurogastronomy, a term coined by chef and neurologist Miguel Sánchez Romera in 1999. While this vision is focused on the neuroscience of taste, it also pays attention to other non-food factors that influence the multi-sensory, emotional and pleasurable experience through food.
The new chair aims to make a transition in research practice from more traditional approaches to the study of taste perception to new methods for understanding the dining experience based on research areas as diverse as cognitive neuroscience, health, decision-making, marketing, design and psychology. The aim is to apply this knowledge to two main areas: health sciences in all their aspects and food sciences, with a study that covers everything from the properties of food to its transformation for consumption.
Healthy and wholesome food is currently the aim of all the most advanced countries. "If we learn about the properties of each food and how the brain experience transforms them into a world of pleasurable sensations and emotions that are both beneficial for physical and psycho-emotional health, we will be achieving a healthier diet and lifestyle," explains Professor Antoni Bulbena.
Multidisciplinary research framework
The initiative of the Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine of the UAB guarantees a multidisciplinary research framework for the Chair. The department has the only PhD programme in psychiatry in Spain, with students, doctors, psychologists, engineers, nurses and even lawyers taking part in it. It helped created the Affinity Animals and Health Foundation Chair, dedicated to research, training and dissemination of the benefits of living with animals for the health and welfare of people; and the Chair of Medical Professional Responsibility and Legal Medicine, for the promotion of teaching, research and training in the field of medical responsibility and the dissemination of safe professional practices, and plans to create new chairs over the next academic year.
Main lines of research
The chair will establish as its main lines of research the knowledge of the whole process that begins with neurosensory perception and the sensations that are the result of the experience of eating. It will seek to broaden and increase the world of perceptions and sensations that we experience while we eat. It will establish which foods can have the greatest influence on the structure and functional activity of the brain ("brain-active" foods). Taking advantage of Dr Sánchez Romera's two professions (his training as a neurologist and as an internationally renowned haute cuisine chef), a creative, innovative and intelligent recipe book with "brain-active" foods will be designed and their influence on the development of the brain throughout its life will be studied. The aim is to build a "brain-active diet" to help prevent, and even reverse, diseases that accompany ageing, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
Training and dissemination
Within the framework of the Chair in Neurogastronomy - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, master's degree courses will also be developed for professionals in the restaurant industry, the food industry and other food-related professions. These courses will focus on neurogastronomy in all its aspects: science, art and human nutrition.