system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why are so many artificial flavors (e.g., "strawberry," "grape," "peach," etc.) so different from their natural counterparts? Shouldn't it be possible to chemically analyze the substances, isolate the flavor/odor compounds, then synthesize exact replicas artificially?
gpt
The part you are missing is that artificial flavors need to be *cheap*.  They are used in some of the cheapest foods, and, although they are used in very small quantities, they have to be highly inexpensive to be profitable.

At the same time, the actual natural flavor (e.g. of peaches) is not just a single compound, but many, many different chemicals.  Synthesizing all of those for use in snack foods would be very complex and expensive.  

So, food scientists work with some basic artificial flavor chemicals that can they be combined to simulate the real flavors.  The right chemicals and quantities are chosen after lots of trials and testing.