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The sense of taste is traditionally said to be triggered by direct physical contact and sensory stimulation. Experienced directly with mouth and tongue, it literally gives us a ‘taste’ of the sensuousness of the world we inhabit. Many questions relating to the anatomy of taste and how it actually works remain unanswered even today. The truth is we know very little about the specific properties of the various chemical substances that function as codes for different gustatory sensations. What is not in doubt is that our sense
of taste is a highly developed sensory channel. Scientists in recent years have been able to prove that in addition to the five basic tastes – sweet, salty, sour, bitter and savory (umami) – we also possess receptors that react to fat and water.
As vast as the range of flavours that we can differentiate is, our ability to describe them and to put them into words is very limited.
The emotions, memories and associations evoked by taste are both subjective and culturally determined and hence liable to change over time. While one particular taste might delight us, another might equally well disgust us, even conjuring up images of putrefaction. There is far more to taste than culinary experience alone.