This, in turn, facilitates the transfer of flavour to our taste buds. Solid foods are broken down by saliva and chewing. Our sense of smell plays an important role in all this, as does the effect of saliva. How something tastes is a combination of what you see, smell and feel. However, in addition to their basic tastes, temperature, aroma, appearance and consistency also help define the taste of foods. The taste of a foodstuff is defined by the combination and concentration of substances that elicit a specific taste. Basically, you can taste six different primary flavours: sweet, sour, bitter, umami (savoury) and fatty (astringent). Your taste buds are to be found on your tongue, your palate at the back of your mouth and your pharynx. I thought I’d delve a little deeper and find the answers to questions like these. Have you ever wondered why airline food sometimes tastes so salty? Why it is that you can’t really taste much of what you eat during a flight? And why are herbal or pasta dishes with tomato sauce so often on the menu? Whenever I fly I always notice that I have cravings for tomato juice and ginger ale, none of which you usually find in my fridge at home.
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