Immersive gastronomy with Chef Jozef Youssef
Seeing flavour: Sight, filet-o-jellyfish & the art of multisensory dining

When is a jellyfish not just a jellyfish? And why might black jellies trick your brain, and your palate?

In this Seeing Senses episode, Chef Jozef Youssef of Kitchen Theory joins host Sarah to explore the strange, compelling world of multisensory gastronomy. From controversial dishes designed to provoke emotional responses to the subtle influence of cutlery on taste, this conversation dives deep into the visual language of flavour. And why our perception of food is never just about taste.

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Listen if you’re curious about:

• How sight shapes your expectations of flavour
• Why black jelly spheres can baffle even expert palates
• The science and strategy behind sensory mapping in experience design
• What the Bouba/Kiki effect and synaesthesia reveal about our crossmodal brains
• How Kitchen Theory went from blog to award-winning immersive supper club

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Key themes & takeaways:

• Sight as a Primary Sense in Eating: How visual cues dominate flavour interpretation
• Disgust by Design: Controversial dishes provoke emotional and cognitive reactions
• Black Jellies & Recognition Gaps: What happens when colour expectation is disrupted
• Sensory Mapping in Experience Design: A stage-by-stage approach to immersive dining
• Crossmodal Congruency: Beyond mixing senses to coherence and emotional resonance
• Synaesthesia & Learned Associations: How we build sensory meaning
• Bouba/Kiki & Shared Language of Shape: Cross-cultural insights into sensory perception
• Cutlery as Interface: Redesigning utensils to heighten attention
• Filet-o-Jellyfish: Fast food futures
• Leave Them Wanting More: Designing moments that linger beyond the meal

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Guest:

Chef Jozef Youssef is a sensory experience designer and the founder of Kitchen Theory, a restaurant with an award-winning immersive chef’s table supper club. He is a culinary innovator and experience designer whose work bridges the worlds of food, science, design, and emotion. He is internationally recognised for pioneering multisensory and immersive dining experiences that challenge the way we perceive flavour.

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Bonus for multi-sensory thinkers:

Head to Seeing Senses on Substack for updates and extras.
You’ll find sense-hacking experiments and book recommendations from the guests. Become a paid subscriber to support the making of this podcast (with extra episodes and content).

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Host:

Sarah Hyndman is a designer/researcher, author and speaker. You can book her for a talk or workshop about Multi-Sensory Thinking here via Type Tasting. Sarah is the founder of Type Tasting, curator of The Sensologists and author of the bestselling book Why Fonts Matter (Penguin/Virgin).

Seeing Senses. Where there’s more than meets the eye.

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Theme music by AudioKraken. This episode is dedicated to Syd because it’s her birthday: Happy Birthday Syd!

#MultisensoryDesign #KitchenTheory #CognitiveExperience #SeeingSensesPodcast #FoodPerception