2024 Symposium

The International Society of Neurogastronomy (ISN) 2024 Symposium

The International Society of Neurogastronomy (ISN) is a professional organization for culinary professionals, agriculture professionals, health care professionals, and scientists of gastronomy in the context of brain and behavior. The concept of Neurogastronomy casts a wide net over all disciplines that are relevant to what we eat, why we like what we eat, and how we eat. The mission of ISN is to advance Neurogastronomy as a craft, science, and health profession, to enhance quality of human life, and to generate and disseminate knowledge of brain-behavior relationships in the context of gastronomy.

Flavor is a major unifying theme for ISN – what it is and how to use it to promote health. Flavor is a natural intersection where taste and smell science overlaps with clinical problems related to food and nutrition, with agriculture, and with chefs and the food preparation industry. ISN reaches out to the public to promote a broad understanding of how taste and smell affect food choices and consumption. ISN also works to develop and promote evidence-based strategies for all areas of health related to flavor. Examples include the impaired flavor perception of chemotherapy patients and appetite control and healthy eating in the face of an epidemic of overconsumption. The founders of ISN invite you to come and join in!

Platform presentations. Speakers will deliver lectures spanning the breadth of ISN. This includes the development of foods that are more flavorful and have greater nutrition benefits, new agricultural practices, the science behind flavor and appetite, and the clinical benefits of a healthy diet. View the full program agenda here. Link TBD

Dinner Workshop. ISN also offers a Neurogastronomy Dinner Workshop. The tradition of this event is to feature the culinary skills of local chefs in a setting where participants can experience flavor while learning about its nature and origins. This is an experience you will not want to miss and tickets are limited! If you choose the add on the dinner workshop, make sure to purchase the ticket type that includes dinner.

Symposium Highlights

Rachel Herz, PhD, is a neuroscientist at Brown University and expert in smell and flavor perception. She is a TEDx speaker and author of several popular books. Her Why You Eat What You Eat: The Science Behind Our Relationship with Food was ranked among the “Best Food Books of 2018” by The Smithsonian and The New Yorker.

Katie Barratt is a South African wine connoisseur, sommelier, and “Sensorial Wine Judge” who conducts educational and inspirational worldwide wine adventures that share her expertise on how to experience wines and pair them with food.

Chef Frederic Morin, founder of the internationally renowned restaurant, Joe Beef, in Montreal, has been featured in The Layover (Travel Channel) and in Anthony Bordain’s Parts Unknown (CNN). His latest passion is cooking for young athletes.

Valerie Duffy, PhD, RD, an expert on taste and smell variation, investigates how salt taste works, what makes a supertaster, and how individual variation affects flavor perception and food preference.

Ginnefer Cox, PhD, RD, is an expert on reducing overused food ingredients – especially salt, fat, and sugar – by substitution of functional ingredients to produce equally full-flavored diets.

Monica Fowler, MS, RD, LD, is the Sports Dietician at the University of Kentucky Athletics Department. She has extensive experience meeting the nutritional needs of young athletes and volunteering this expertise to the community.

Chef Trevor Morones is living proof of the effectiveness of a therapeutic ketogenic diet for drug-resistant epilepsy, an example of how a carefully crafted diet can impact health.

Robert Pellegrino, PhD, a neuroscientist, food scientist, and expert in flavor perception is the editor of the upcoming Anosmia Cookbook, which provides recipes and cooking advice for people with smell and taste deficiencies.

Gina Mullin Challenge Results

Panel Discussion

Dinner Workshop

John McGann, PhD., is a neuroscientist and expert on the physiology and cognition of smell. His myth-shattering analysis of human smell capabilities helped revolutionize thinking about smell, taste, and flavor.

Future Meetings

ISN 2025: Philadelphia, PA

Past Meetings

ISN 2015 – Lexington KY

ISN 2016 – Lexington, KY

ISN 2018 – Lexington, KY

ISN 2019 – New Orleans, LA

ISN 2021 – Virtual

ISN 2022 – Bonita Springs, FL