MSU club hosts flavor-tripping party

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Shawn Targosz never experienced anything like it before. Lemons tasted like the sweetest candy ever, and a Guinness beer tasted more like a chocolate malt.

“I’ve heard of tripping before,” the advertising senior said. “But never flavor tripping.”

Targosz attended a flavor-tripping party Wednesday night at Reno’s East Side Sportsbar & Grill, 1310 Abbot Road. The MSU Outdoors Club hosted its first flavor-tripping party as a fundraiser and promotion for the Banff Mountain Film Festival it is hosting April 7.

At the parties, such as the one at Reno’s, guests begin by placing a small, red berry known as the “miracle fruit” in their mouth and rolling it around on their tongue. The berry, which contains a protein called miraculin, makes sour or bitter foods taste sweet and enhances the flavor of already sweet foods, said Lisa Nowak, who owns the business that doled out the berries at the party.

Nowak, an MSU alumna and former member of the Outdoors Club, introduced the club to the idea of using a flavor-tripping party to help raise money.

“She had brought it up and said she heard of other college groups doing similar events,” said Tom Baweja, president of the Outdoors Club. “She thought it could help us with our fundraiser and help her with her company, so it’s a win-win situation.”

Flavor tripping was a foreign concept to Baweja until Nowak explained how it worked. Nowak, however, said the miracle fruit and flavor tripping are becoming increasingly popular.

“They’re definitely starting to grow,” she said. “It’s really becoming a novelty in some areas.”

Nowak and her husband, Chris, discovered the fruit by reading about it in an online article. Amazed by the fruit’s effects, they started The World’s Greatest Fruit, based in Lansing, which re-sells a dried version of the fruit called Miracle Frooties, since the berry itself is highly perishable.

As the fruit gained recognition in the media and through flavor-tripping parties, Nowak said she also noticed an increase in her sales.

“It significantly makes a big difference,” she said of the fruit’s growing popularity. “It’s amazing when we wake up in the morning and our sales increase 800 percent.”

In addition to the recreational aspect of the fruit, it also has various health benefits. Nowak said people who are diabetic and cannot eat certain sugary treats have shown interest in the fruit because it can help them satisfy their sweet tooth. Also, chemotherapy patients who are left with a metallic taste in their mouth following treatment use miracle fruit to regain their appetite.

In spite of that, Nowak said most people want the fruit because it is fun to experiment with.

“You start going through everything like, ‘Oh my gosh, what else changes,’” she said. “It becomes a curiosity, and it’s a lot of fun to work with.”

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