Each person entering the Flavor industry as a Flavor Trainee, Assistant, Technician, Junior Flavorist, etc. should be asking "what can I do to help advance my career as a Flavorist?"

Sure, your company has a standard procedure for training people, but you should go beyond their program. There are many things a trainee can do on their own to greatly enhance the enjoyment of Flavor Creation:

1. READ. Read all the classics written by such authorities as Guenther, Arctander, Bedoukian, Lawrence, Heath, Merory, etc.

The early industry dealt mainly with spices and perfumes. One should be aware of the origins of many of the spice oils and essential oils we use today. Guenthers, Volume I brings the adventure of distillation, expression, maceration of the essential oils into your living room. It is very fascinating reading dealing with basic raw materials. Arctander describes most of the essential oils used today. Bedoukian goes into where to use aromatics.

2. NOTE-KEEPING. You should set up an index card system for every raw material found in your laboratory. The information should include it's odor and taste, strength, lasting power on a blotter, supplier, cost, Kosher status, and most importantly, where you would use the ingredient. Do not look up the ingredient in the literature to see where others would use it. Determine where you would use it and then you can check with other to get their ideas.

Sometimes you may be way out of line as to where to use a material, but even so, it is up to you to try it in the application you feel it goes into. If you are wrong - no big deal! But, keep trying out your own ideas, rather than what others say. It is the best way to learn.

3. SMELLING AND TASTING. This is a whole new vocabulary for most people. You Must smell and taste at least five new ingredients each day. Keep notes and at the end of each week, have someone test you to see if you remember what a chemical smells and tastes like. Without this new vocabulary, you will never be a flavorist.

4. PRODUCTION. Get involved in the production of flavors. Seek to work in the factory filling in for someone on vacation. This is the best training for learning how to compound in the lab. You'll appreciate the difficulty in producing some of the concoctions you have created in the lab in a 250 c.c. beaker.

Do the same with spray drying or dry blending. Until you have been physically exposed to the process, you have no real feeling for what is involved.

5. ANALYTICAL DEPARTMENT. Best way to examine new raw materials and to actually see the differences in quality from batch to batch and supplier to supplier. Not all things are created equally!

6. INDUSTRY MEETINGS. Attend as many seminars, industrial trade shows, professional society meetings as your company allows, and then find ways to attend on your own. This is the best way to network and keep abreast of what's happening outside your company. Join committees, become a worker and a leader, not only a follower. This helps your career in the long run.

7. KNOW YOUR COMPANY'S PRODUCTS. Spend extra time evaluating finished flavors so you know what in-house flavors are good in various applications. It doesn't make sense to constantly reinvent the wheel when you already may have excellent wheels. Only thing is, you have to take the time to discover them.

8. INDUSTRIAL TRAINING. Some companies will send trainees to specific courses of study, such as confectionery technology, baking, soft drinks, etc. Still, there is much you can do on your own by reading about each industry you serve, learning the basics involved.

9. ETHNIC TASTE AND COOKING. All of you can read cookbooks, and should be able to navigate around the kitchen. Experiment with different ethnic dishes you can prepare at home, or at least go out once a week to a different ethnic restaurant in order to experience the whole world's taste, not just your local fast food hamburger or pizza joint. The Food Channel on cable television is an excellent source of information regarding flavors around the world.

10. PERSONAL HYGIENE. We all keep ourselves clean and dress properly. But, when working in a closed atmosphere where odor and taste are our living, we should observe and extend the following courtesies to our fellow workers.

Avoid the use of perfume, strong after-shave lotions and hair spray. This is very distracting to others, and saturates the wearer to the degree that their organoleptic senses are impaired.

Avoid smoking at work, and all together, if possible. Smoking contaminates the air and dulls your organoleptic senses. Have you smelled the breath of a smoker lately?

Respect your work area and those around you. Keep your space clean and return all bottles of ingredients to their proper shelf space when you finish a project. Keep bottles free of residue from drips to avoid extra odors.

Most Companies implement all or some of the comments listed here. If they don't, do them on your own.

You could also call this the "Ten Commandments of Flavor Training." Treat them as such and you will never go wrong. Remember, it's your career that's at stake.

It would be appreciated if additional "Commandments for Flavor Training" were submitted by the membership. Surely there are numerous ideas we have overlooked.

* Our late President Kennedy was responsible for this statement, but he referred to our country