Creativity is one of the most important 21st-century human skills in the age of increasing automation. However, research on creativity has predominantly focused on visual or language-based expressions, overlooking the significance of the chemical senses. Chemosensory creativity, which relates to olfactory and gustatory experiences, has a rich cultural history that goes back at least several millennia and is currently thriving worldwide. From flavour innovation in plant-based meat replacements to Michelin star chefs and social media food influencers, chemosensory creativity is making a substantial impact in a wide range of professional and everyday contexts.

In this workshop, we will offer a range of interactive activities designed to explore different aspects of smell and taste-related creativity. The first part of the workshop will engage participants in four hands-on exercises targeting two types of creativity judgements. These are 1) product-based creativity, where participants will judge several food combinations including wine, cheese and chocolate, and 2) person-based creativity tests, where participants will complete existing semantic exercises related to flavour pairings and recipe creation. After a group discussion session, participants will hear about the creative process of artists like Mondrian. The audience will smell several scents as part of the presentation. By encouraging participants to reflect on their own learnings from the workshop activities, we aim to stimulate new directions in creativity research.

We believe that a deeper understanding and promotion of chemosensory creativity will not only have a theoretical contribution to human cognition but also be a crucial step in facilitating the much-needed shift in consumer dietary habits towards more sustainable and healthy foods that are simultaneously delicious and desirable.
Note: max. 40 participants, registration is required: https://forms.gle/xmiJAFVkDBAqgVqH9