Most of us are fortunate enough to not just eat/drink for survival, but also for enjoyment. We taste food and beverages the moment they enter our mouths, and we can taste/chew/feel texture/etc.. but still we dont quite feel satisfied until we actually swallow.
For example: no matter how much you enjoy your favorite drink, you cant just take one sip and keep it in your mouth forever.
In: Biology
If you hold food in your mouth, the experience changes. Potatoes chips get wet. Salt dissolves. Carbohydrates turn sweet. Cold drinks get warm. Fizz leaves the soda. Smells lose intensity (due to saturation) So quite literally the taste changes if you hold it in your mouth.
I’m not sure that holding something in your mouth is as unsatisfactory as it is awkward. You can’t talk, can’t eat more, and you have to fight your instinct to swallow.
You have a sensation of being full that comes in part from literally having a full stomach. But that is only part of it. Satisfaction with a meal depends on many things.. such as cravings, nutrition, special body needs, individual preferences, the time since you last ate, dehydration/ thirst is a big one.
In short, swallowing is part of a a complete, satisfying experience.
Do you not think the most enjoyable feeling is the one when you see your food and just before you eat it?
That’s when your brain is temporarily flooded with dopamine I believe. A “happy” chemical.
I have thought of this before and explained myself that the strongest (best) taste buds are towards the back of your tongue, almost where your throat starts. That’s why we are most satisfied when the food/drink is almost making its way out of your mouth when we swallow it.
Flavor and swallowing food for nourishment are tied together in our brain. Without swallowing, the whole effect is thrown off and our brain goes “wtf”?
Some things taste extremely good because long ago, when everyone was living as hunter/gatherers the best tasting food was very nutritious for your body and you needed it to live. That is how life was for most of humanity’s time on earth so it’s still part of our dna. The best tasting foods are very high in fat and sugar because our body evolved to crave and enjoy these foods the most when food was scarce and we were burning way more calories per day. High fat and high sugar foods are still common in a healthy diet for hikers and endurance athletes who need the extra calories and fat because they are burning a ridiculous amount of calories per day.
Tldr: Taste is tied to nutrition. Food tastes good because our brain knows it will nourish our body. If we don’t swallow it, it throws off the whole sensation, kinda like pulling out…
Much of our sensory apparatus is tuned to care about changes and new stimuli. This is why things like white noise can be tuned out, or persistent smells can be eventually not be noticed, or the pressure on your body from where you’re sitting or lying comfortably isn’t constantly in the front of your mind. Even our sight does this. Our eyes make lots of constant small movements called saccades. If you force yourself to hold your gaze steady on a single point with a static scene, you’ll find your vision loses definition and color, and it can actually start to hurt.
Ultimately, because of evolution. If you ask “why” enough times about answers here, the answer becomes this:
Bodies need calories to function. If animal A can get enjoyment from just holding one mouthful of food indefinitely, while animal B has to continuously find and eat more and more food to get the same level of pleasure, animal B’s body would be much better able to survive famine/sickness/cold/life in general.
Latest Answers