From the BBC:
"...scientists have spent months developing a tandoori flavoured cheddar for Tesco....Fish and chips, and Thai- and Chinese-based flavours are next on the list."
Instinctively, my aesthetic sensibilities are offended. But then i am reminded of one of my heros, Jeffery Steingarten, who did not shy away even from olestra, perhaps one of the most aesthetically distasteful substances yet invented. This thought humbled me enough to want to indulge my other instinct: curiosity.
Does it really taste like tandoori? How did they do that?
Herbed, nutted, garliced, and spiced cheeses have been socially acceptable for some time. Is there really such a great difference? I'm not sure. I suppose the answer depends a lot on how the flavor was added. Natural spices? Enzymes?
And perhaps more to the point, why? I'm not sure we have much to benefit from cheese that tastes like tandoori, or fish and chips. Sure, it's a curiosity, or perhaps more of a freak show, that tests the potency of technology. But if I think that if I wanted the flavor of say, fish and chips, I'll go out and eat fish and chips, especially since much of the enjoyment of that dish is not in the flavor so much as the textures, aroma, and the experience of the comsumptive act.