The perfect meal!

Hello everyone!
So today, i've been thinking about how I can create the perfect meal.
I recalled that people (including myself) tend to like a mix of sweet/salty foods. Such as the classic peanut butter and jelly, or salty taffy.

People all over the cooking world are loving the combination of sweet and salty flavors.

When confronted with the question,

 Do Sweet and Salty Treats Do "It" for You?

These were just a few of the many responses from people who love this combination of flavors on their taste buds:

especially when chocolate is involved. I've found myself more likely to eat chocolate bars with nuts as a result, too.

—Guest eric

I put a good amount in both my peanut butter balls and their coating. My favorite, however is candy corn and salted peanuts. It's awsome.

—Guest Julie

I love chocolate covered pretzels and sugared peanuts. Moroccan cuisine also combines sweet and salty (and spicy) in meat and fruit dishes - yummy!

—Guest moroccanfood

Well, i'm wanting to incorporate that aspect into some portion of my meal, whether it be the appetizer, main course, or dessert.
To be able to make a delectable dish, I wanted to do a bit of research behind why that is that people tend to gravitate towards these tasty treats. I've found there to be no concrete answer to this, however there is quite a solid theory that I read about.

This theory is quite a simple answer, receptors. Confused? Let me explain.

Our tongues each of different channels for each type of flavor such as sour, sweet, salty, and bitter. We each have little taste detecting cells. When a sweet flavor enters one of these, it essentially senses and tells your brain that you're eating something sweet, by stimulating the "taste-detecting" cells on their outermost parts. These two parts can't work without one another. You need something sweet, and the sweet receptors to tell the brain that you are eating something sweet. These cells are embedded into our taste buds on the tongue. Around 25 percent of the cells detect sweet foods, whereas the rest respond to sour/salty foods. Salty foods are detected similarly to that of sweet cells. Immediately following when salt hits the tongue, it dissolves into our saliva, and changes membrane potential in our taste cells, resulting into triggering the brain that you have just tasted something salty.

How does this relate to delicious treats?
Well, a strong theory is that when salt is present with the our sweet-detecting cells, then the triggering to our brain happens more quickly, because of the increased amount of sodium ions near the apical membrane (where the taste cell to brain signal takes place).
This is a fancy way of saying if a slight bit of salt is added, then it will taste better to some people!

Now that i've added some science behind why this tastes good.... why don't I add something salty/sweet to my menu!

I've thought of three ideas that I could use.

For Appetizer:

Melon with thinly sliced prosciutto 

For the main course:

Thai coconut curry

For dessert:
Salty toffee bark

I was looking at these sweet/salty ideas... and came up with a new idea.
I was thinking... if sweet and salty foods are so beautifully combined to create a great taste, then i could add this aspect to each course of the meal!

This would certainly turn the meal from average, into spectacular!
Since the majority of people enjoy the sweet and salty combination, i'm not worried about having one of my dinner guests who doesn't enjoy these flavors.

I realize now that I will come up with 2 more options for each course, so that I can be sure I am creating the perfectly balanced meal.

Various factors come into play when creating the perfect meal such as having a balance between heavy/light foods, as well as having nutritional food to serve to my guests. Before I choose my courses for my meal, I will be exploring the value of nutrition in a meal, and the science behind heavy/light types of foods.

This research will enable me to pick the perfect blend of foods, to create the perfect overall meal for my guests. Next time, I will be explaining and researching heavy vs. light types of foods.


Ciao for now!

Kate xx