eli5 Why can’t tastes be perfectly replicated by chemical analysis of the target?
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In principle, they could, it’s just that naturally occurring flavors have many, many minor components, some in very tiny amounts, so that an exact duplication just requires synthesizing too many things to be economical vs. just using the natural flavor.
Amyl acetate is probably 95%or so of the flavor of banana. But getting the remaining 5% would be 10 or 20 other things.
A lot of lavours can, particularly savoury ones. If you think those bacon crisps ever seen an animal, they haven’t. It’s completely artificial, made from soy or yeast.
But a lot of a flavour’s profile is in the aromatic components, the stuff you taste not with your tongue, but with your nose. And noses are really sensitive, able to pick up sometimes just a few particles. And those can sometimes have an oversized impact on the flavour profile, even at those minute concentrations. And there can be a few dozen of these chemicals, and they might be difficult to artificially synthesise.
So at the end of the day, a lot of flavours CAN be perfectly replicated, but for some it’s just not worth the effort if it’s going to be more expensive to get it right than just using the real thing.
Chemical make up is only a part of the taste of prepared food. A lot of taste comes from cooking methods. How long and what temp you cook something at changes the flavor. Whether you brown something changes the flavor (maillard reaction) and a ton of other things come into play
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