In Relation to Taste and Smell

Part of every food journey is the eater's ability to determine various flavors using his sense of taste. But did you know that one of the key elements of tasting our food is our sense of smell? You read it right, our nose aids us to savor and enjoy the food we are eating. According to fifthsense.org.uk, 75% of the flavors that we taste actually comes from our nose. This is due to our sensors known to science as olfactory neurones which detects the food molecules we are eating. These sensors are located in our nostrils. Most of the time, we perceive flavors within our mouth due to a passage from our nose to our mouth. This process is also known as retronasal olfaction.

image from pixabay.com

So the next time you have a cold, don't fret if you can't taste anything. This is natural because our nose and our throat are connected. When you have a cold, our nose gets congested and the air stops flowing pasts our olfactory receptors. Hence, the aroma compounds cannot reach them making our sense of smell won't work properly. You can still taste the food you are eating but the flavor is definitely affected making it bland or even sour.

Wine tasters definitely used their sense of smell and taste. When tasting, they are holding wine in their mouths and swill it around before spitting out. This is to encourage as much flavor as possible up into the nose to savor their wine much better. 

You can check out Tasty: The Art and Science of What we Eat on learning the mysteries of flavors from our ancestors to the modern-day "foodie" generation.