let's get our terms straight. Scientifically, when we use the
word "taste", we're talking about specific qualities
conveyed to us via taste receptors on the tongue and in the
mouth. These tastes include the classics: sweet, sour, salty
and bitter. A new taste has been scientifically identified and
verified. It's called umami (pronounced "oo-mommy"),
and is elicited by glutamate, a common amino acid in food. This
strict definition of taste is far different than what most people
consider "taste" to be. For example, when we say,
"This tastes good," what we're really talking about
is not just taste itself, but a whole collection of sensory
information, including taste, aroma and texture. Taken together,
these qualities are more accurately termed "flavor."
buds and more
If you've ever looked at your tongue and thought the little
bumps on it were your taste buds you're not alone. You're also
not correct! The little bumps on our tongues are actually called
papillae. Inside some of these papillae are clumps of taste
cells. These clumps of cells are actually the taste buds. On
average, adults have about 7,500 taste buds.
food comes in contact with the taste buds, signals are sent
to the brain. Together with other sensory input, such as temperature
or aroma, these signals are interpreted by the brain as flavor.
our taste buds are "fooled." For example, certain
signals are sent to the brain in response to the ingestion of
sugar. However, when a sweetener such as aspartame is consumed,
the same signal is sentthat of a sweet tasteeven
though aspartame contains no sugar.
the tongue map!
Many of us remember learning about our taste buds in school,
when we were presented with a "tongue map" showing
which tastes buds were responsible for sensing which types of
tastes. For example, the taste buds located on the back of the
tongue were supposedly for bitter and salty, sour was sensed
on the sides of the tongue and sweet was detected on the tip.
Well, it's time to forget all about that because the famous
"tongue map" was wrong! Scientists have known for
years that the "tongue map" was based on misinterpreted
research. (Textbook publishers seem to love the "tongue
map" despite its inaccuracies, and still include it in
numerous school texts.)
there are some differences in sensitivity across the tongue,
it is not as defined as the "tongue map" indicates.
In reality, all types of taste can be detected on all regions
of the tongue, as long as the papillae contain taste buds.