Taste page 3

Taste page 3 by ric gustafson


After looking at the building blocks of taste and smell, we come to touch. When we touch something like a ripe tomato, after we smell it we want to taste it. There is complexity to food texture. Touch is called the sensory homunculus. We use texture of food through touch along with sight, hearing, taste and smell. Food texture is determined by molecules in a food. This makes a banana different from a pear. Fruits and vegetables have a different texture because of their cell walls. Consistency is the key to food texture.
You use your teeth to feel texture by biting and chewing and using nerve fibers. You use your tongue inside your mouth as a muscle. Saliva is used to identify and appreciate food texture. Without saliva, we would not be able to swallow. The sound of the food we eat is important to texture.


research help: ' Taste what you're missing' by Barb Stuckey


Peace and God's blessings. Love Ric