- Are you curious about careers in science?

Hi, I'm Genesis.

and today I'm here with Nadia Berenstein.

Hi, Nadia, can you tell me where you are and what you do?

- Hi, Genesis.

I am in Brooklyn, New York and I am a Flavor Historian.

- As a Flavor Historian, how is STEM incorporated into your job?

- Well, technically, I am a historian of science and I got interested in food and flavor really by studying the history of the science behind the ways that the food that we eat tastes the way that it does, and specifically, the history of artificial flavors.

- What's your favorite flavor to research and why?

- I study a lot of different flavors, but some of my favorite flavors to study are some of the earliest artificial flavors that you can still taste in the candy and soda pop that we consume today.

(soda can popping) (phone beeping and ringing) - Hello, Nadia.

- Hi, Genesis.

You've got a banana, right?

- Totally.

- And you've also got some banana candy.

- I do.

- So let's do a little taste test, shall we?

How would you compare the flavor of these two things?

- The banana candy, it tastes more artificial.

And I think the banana is muted and creamy.

- So that's because these are not the same bananas that people were eating in the United States in the late 1800s when banana flavor was first developed.

Those bananas were actually a different kind of banana.

People were tasting banana flavored candies and banana flavored confections of various sorts before they had actually been able to taste an actual bite of a real banana.

- Nadia Berenstein gave me a lot of food for thought when it comes to flavor history.

Explore your possibilities.

(upbeat music)