I was searching for the distinction between “savory” and “umami” and apparently savory encompasses a variety of tastes. I agree that it does but wouldn’t those be tastes that exist in addition to umami and the other four tastes?
Also I know the nose can recognize many more different chemicals and that it plays a role in taste perception, but I’m pretty sure there’s more than five types of taste when I eat even without a sense of smell. This is IMO the kind of question that should be obvious but isn’t answered.
In: 0
I highly recommend the book Flavor: The Science of Our Most Neglected Sense
[https://www.nasw.org/member_article/bob-holmes-flavor](https://www.nasw.org/member_article/bob-holmes-flavor)
It’s a fascinating book about how flavor works (as others have said, smell, particularly vomeronasal — back of the throat — is a big part of it), including the nutrition (umami gets us important nitrogen-bearing compounds, salt gets us sodium), and evolution of senses (cats can’t taste sweet). It’s not just kids who love ulltra-sour things, chimpanzees adore lemons.
Latest Answers