Why does food’s taste fade away the more we chew it?
In: Biology
This phenomenon varies between different food types. Put simply, as you chew, your saliva dissolves the food in your mouth to help you swallow it. The first thing your saliva touches is the outer layer of your food. In the case of prepared meals like steak and pasta, the main flavor is on the outermost layer of your food, as you chew and swallow the saliva in your mouth it takes the flavors (herbs, spices, salt, seared crust etc.) down with it and you taste more of the remaining meat or wheat in these examples, which don’t taste as flavorful without that outer seasoning. This is also why if you don’t like the flavor of broccoli or peas, they taste worse the more you chew them, since the seasoning washes down with your saliva and the vegetable taste starts coming out.
You’ll notice that this doesn’t happen with fruits, ice cream, or chocolate etc. since in those cases all layers of what you’re eating have the same flavor.
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