For far too long, the consumer has been left out of modern breeding programs. We are trying
to change that paradigm by starting with the consumer, asking what they want, understanding
the genetics controlling the traits that make a difference to them, and then getting those traits
into commercial cultivars. Our model system is tomato, the poster child for poor flavor. To
understand and ultimately correct the problem, we systematically determined the chemistry
of tomato flavor with consumer panels, identifying the chemicals making the most important
contributions to flavor and consumer liking. Whole genome sequencing and a genome‐wide
association study permitted identification of genetic loci affecting most of the target flavor
chemicals, including sugars, acids and volatiles. Together, these results provide an
understanding of the flavor deficiencies in modern commercial varieties and provide the
information necessary for recovery of good flavor through molecular breeding.