A supertaster is a person who experiences the sense of taste with far greater intensity than average. But what does this mean? We thought the best person to ask would be a supertaster themselves so, we spoke to Jozef Youssef, supertaster and mastermind behind innovative and collaborative project, Kitchen Theory.

“A supertaster means that you have this ability of being able to perceive and pick up a more delicate balance of taste and seasoning in dishes,” explained Jozef Youssef. “Supertasters tend to shy away from very strong and heavily seasoned foods or anything that has a very pungent taste, where as non-tasters are a little more adventurous.”

Jozef is the man behind Kitchen Theory, a collaborative project that operates both online and off. It started out as an online space for Jozef to ‘share ideas and knowledge on gastronomy’. Covering topics such as food science, food culture, food history, multisensory flavour perception, neurogastronomy and molecular gastronomy. Jozef describes it as somewhere to put down the things he finds interesting in the hope that others will too.

He has worked at the Fat Duck, with Helene Darroze at the Connaught and at The Dorchester Hotel; and believes being a supertaster could be an advantage when you’re a chef….

He said: “I think being a supertaster is great if you’re a chef. You need to season your dishes and find a good-balance but, being a non-taster does not mean you miss out completely.”