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Chapter 15 Overview

Taste

Image 1  The four basic tastes are represented by the dominant tastes in the four foods above (clockwise from top left): salty (table salt), sour (lemon), bitter (espresso), and sweet (sugar cubes).

Taste, the subject of this chapter, is often confused with flavor, the overall sensory experience conveyed when we eat. In fact, retronasal olfaction (which occurs when food molecules released by chewing drift up through the back of your throat and into your nasal cavity) is a greater determinant of flavor than gustation (sensations from the taste buds in the tongue and roof of the mouth).

There are only four distinct tastes (clockwise in the figure at right, starting at top-left): salty, sour, bitter, and sweet. The taste of any food is limited to a combination of these four flavors, as you will discover if you complete the activity Taste without Smell. The other activity for this chapter reviews Gustatory Anatomy. Our two essays discuss a Scientific Urban Legend—The Bogus Tongue Map and an interesting phenomenon called Water Tastes.

Once you’ve read the chapter in the textbook and done the activities here, use the study aids (Study Questions, Flashcards, and Chapter Summary) to review.