This weekend students had the opportunity to trick their taste buds with a tiny berry.
Friday afternoon, the Biological Basis of Behavior Society hosted their first ever “Miracle Magic Berry Tasting” event. The tasting, held in Stiteler Hall, was presented in collaboration with Penn Appetit and led by BBB professor Michael Kaplan.
After a brief introduction by BBB Society President Benjamin Laitman, Kaplan presented a short, informative slideshow about the miracle berries. The berries work by “changing the way your mouth reacts to food.”
The berries “hijack your taste receptors” by using “dimers” to bind to sweet receptors. This results in taste receptors acting as though they have just been exposed to something sweet.
Such a phenomenon is possible because the active substance in the miracle berries, miraculin, activates the same receptors sweet foods do, Kaplan explained.
After the presentation, everyone that was registered for the event was given on of the miracle berries, which look like large, frozen cranberries. After sucking on the berries for a few minutes, everyone dug into the food dishes available on each of the tables. Options included pizza, green grapes, sour cream, lettuce, grapefruit, limes, lemons and strawberries.
Few events would motivate college students to enjoy a meal of lettuce and sour cream, but most people got up for seconds.
Attendee and College sophomore Elizabeth Kopec commented that the lemons “tasted like lemonade.”
Sarah Ahmed, a College sophomore, stated that the “runty” strawberries tasted “really, really sweet.”
Although the BBB Society holds many events during the year, few involve meals. Laitman even joked that the inspiration for the miracle berry discussion was, “How can we have an event with food?”
Laitman expressed enthusiasim for the success of the well-attended event, adding that the program was effective in “gauging interest” for future events.
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