Why does food taste great or nasty? Have you ever looked at something and automatically decide that it's not nasty without tasting it? That because taste involves more than what we place on our tongue. It involves our nose, eyes, ears and skin. According to Lawrence D. Rosenblum, we taste what we see, hear, touch, smell, expect and understand. 80% of what we taste comes from smell. If I bring you a plate of food and it smells sour, you won't eat even if I tell you that its your favorite food. According to Emma Sage, Coffee Science Manager, Specialty Coffee Association of America, taste can also be scene as a type of synesthesia. Sage says, "Those in the food research field have co-opted this definition to mean more of a general multi-modal experience, where the stimulation of one sense causes a perception in a different sense". After reading our book by Rosenblum and the article by Sage, I now know why I absolutely hate avocado. I hate the look of it and the texture when I touch it. It's reminiscent of baby poop.
I completely agree that our other senses come into play when we taste something. I have definitely decided that I dont like something before even tasting it based on its smell or look. Awesome post!
ReplyDeleteHi Tierra,
ReplyDeleteYou did a fantastic job reeling in the audience with this one. I always wondered why when i smell food I know if i am going to like it before i even taste it. I thought this was just a weird thing that i do but it is good to know i am not the only human being out there who has this experience. I am also more inclined to dislike something if it is mushy such as the part of the banana that nobody wants to eat. I think this topic is very relevant to perception as well!
Great post.
Best,
Dennis Drakeley
drakeled@go.stockton.edu
Hi Tierra! I agree with your thoughts on how smell plays a big role in whether we like foods or not. I always say "we eat with our eyes first." and I think the look of food can really change if we want to eat a meal or not. I can really relate to the texture thing when it comes to eating certain foods.
ReplyDeleteJillian Aricola
Hey Tierra,
ReplyDeleteI never realized how big of a role our other senses play in our daily consumption of food.It is true if something LOOKS less appetizing I won't eat it and make the correlation that it's not good or worth trying. I also thought it was so interesting that the book discussed that 80% of taste comes from our smell sense. Good post!