This is a concise companion handbook to the three volume series, The Instrumental Spectrometric and Spectroscopic Analysis of Natural Food Food Flavourings. It begins with fundamental principles of the structure of the atom, continues with the theory and principles of infrared red spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic (NMR) spectroscopy. The principles of the techniques are illustrated and described by examining the spectral data of a number of small molecules including alkenes, alcohols, esters and aromatic compounds. The volume continues with the examination of the spectral information of a range of natural food flavourings and continues to examine, perhaps, the most fascinating molecules - optical isomers (enantiomers). Finally, three pairs of enantiomers are examined - those that give rise to the flavourings of oranges & lemons, spearmint & caraway and lavender & coriander. This volume is intended to be a gentle introduction to sophisticated instrumental techniques with relevance to flavourings of which we are all familiar.