WORLD OF SCIENCE
The truth about taste
DR. T. V. PADMA
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To get the full flavour of your favourite dish, you need to taste and smell the food
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Last week, we learned that the idea of a tongue `taste map' was wrong. So what's the truth about taste?
All types of taste can be detected anywhere in the mouth where there are taste buds (though there may be some parts of the tongue that are slightly more sensitive to some tastes than to others — some scientists think that may be so, and others don't seem to think so). Taste buds are small structures that provide information about the taste of food being eaten.
Guess how many taste buds you have? Humans have about 10,000 taste buds! And they aren't all on your tongue — you even have taste buds in the roof of your mouth, in your cheeks and your throat!
Think that's a lot? Well, at least all our taste buds are in one general place — the mouth and throat region. Some animals have taste buds in the most unlikely places. Some fish have taste buds on the outside of their bodies, and some insects have taste buds on their feet!
Receptor cells
If you want to see what a taste bud looks like, find a mirror and stick out your tongue. Do you see many small pink bumps on your tongue? These bumps are called papillae. Inside most of these papillae, there are taste buds. Each taste bud is made up of many special cells called receptor cells. The receptor cells carry taste signals to nerves, and nerves then take the information to your brain. This process allows you to taste what's in your mouth.
Of course, to get the full flavour of your favourite dish, you need to taste and smell the food.
What we think of as taste is often actually flavour — the mixture of tastes and smells and even textures. Texture is, of course, the feel of something on your tongue — but as you might imagine, it also plays a part in the whole experience of tasting something you like.
Think of that next time you smell something cooking in the kitchen...
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