Flavor is unquestionably one of the most extremely secretive one-reluctant to dis­ close anything that might be of value to a important attributes of the food we eat. competitor. Thus, little information about Man does not eat simply to live but even the activities of the flavor industry itself is more so lives to eat. Take away the pleasure offood and life becomes relatively mundane. available to the public. There now is a substantial body of liter­ The goal of the original Source Book of ature dealing with food flavor. The "golden Flavors, written by Henry Heath, was to years" of flavor research in the United States bring together in one volume as much of the were the 1960s and 70s. Numerous academic worldwide data and facts and as many flavor­ and government institutions had strong related subjects (e. g. , food colors) as was flavor programs and money was readily possible. Henry Heath added a wealth of available for flavor research. In the 1980s personal information on how the industry and 90s, research funding has become diffi­ accomplishes its various activities, which cult to obtain, particularly in an esthetic had never been published in any other liter­ area such as food flavor. The number of ature. It has been the intent of this author to research groups focusing on food flavor has update and build upon the original work of declined in the United States. Fortunately, Henry Heath.