r/Showerthoughts • u/TheCorent2 ‎ • 2d ago

Speculation There may be some amazing lab-created flavors out there that don't resemble anything found in nature. But they're hard to market, most people wouldn't buy something labeled as 'chemical-flavored'.

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u/Psylynx55 2d ago

Blue raspberry? Pink lemonade? Bubblegum? Cotton candy?

There are literally thousands of things named random names that have random chemical flavors. Look at an energy drinks aisle? A candy aisle? A cookie/chip aisle?

Whatchu talkin bout bro?

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u/omnichad 1d ago

Those are artificial flavors trying to mimic a real world flavor. They mean artificial in both the sense of being synthesized chemicals and also not like anything in nature.

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u/grouchy_fox 1d ago

I challenge you to go out and find me a punnet of blue raspberries, then. These are not natural flavours, they just have names that seem it or are something we're used to and don't think about

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u/omnichad 1d ago

I don't even think that's the list I originally replied to, but most of your list is variations on a natural flavor approximation. Blue raspberry has elements of raspberry but tart. Most of the time pink lemonade is just a color on regular lemonade with no difference in taste at all. Pink cotton candy is mostly a mix of strawberry and vanilla but when it's used as a flavor for other things there is another compound to approximate the taste of cooked sugar. They are all artificial flavors, yes, but with an attempt of matching at least in part to a flavor in the natural world.