Research shows that when eating different kinds of food, human-beings undergo diverse emotions and feeling. Why do tastes matter to our emotions? We like sweet food, spicy food or possibly salty food, but why do most of us dislike sourness and bitterness? Let’s find out in this article.

Tastes

There are five universally accepted tastes: sweetness, bitterness, saltiness, sourness and umami/savoriness. Savoriness or umami means brothy or meaty, and are similar to saltiness but still different flavors. To understand the five tastes, it is essential to introduce different buds on the tongue that serve to identify and detect them.

Here is a breakdown of each taste and from what types of food it can be extracted from:

• Sweet: oftentimes from sugar, such as fructose and lactose. Examples also include alcohols in juices or alcoholic drinks.
• Salty: Salty food mainly include table salts (can be added later on), which is NaCl, or mineral salts, Potassium or magnesium.
• Bitter: bitterness comes from different substances, with 35 sensor cells responding to it. This is due to the instinct of self-protection as some substances which have a bitter taste is poisonous.
• Savory/umami: this is mainly from glutamic acid or aspartic acid. They are from food like ripe tomatoes, meat and cheese (for glutamic acid), as well as asparagus (aspartic acid).
• Note that spicy or hot is not a taste, rather they are actually pain.

How are we able to taste?

When ingesting food, your teeth along with your saliva work together to break down the food physically and chemically. During this process food will release chemical substances, and these will flow to the certain taste buds. As a major helper, the receptors in the nose will also participate in identifying flavors.

As the picture shows, the unit that serves to taste is taste papilla, which looks similar to what we also refer to as “goose bumps”. Taste buds, as minor units are parts of them.

From this picture, we will know there are 4 different kinds of papillae. Within those papillae, there are about 2000-4000 taste buds.

These taste buds contain taste receptor cells with microvilli that contact with the chemicals from the food, and then they will transfer the taste signals to the brain through nerves. There are also basal cells that act as stem cells of taste receptor cells, as well as supporting cells.

The main locations of the papillae are at the edge and the back of the tongue.

Then, why do we feel different?

Generally, brain will experience different things when we taste different tastes.

When we eat sweet foods, the sugar will get into the bloodstream quickly by absorption and into the brain, causing the amount of dopamine to surge.

According to current study, this is due to the fact that our bodies are used to seeking food that are high in calories (such as sweets). Even though it is unnecessary because of technological improvement, our brains have not caught up with the change due to slow evolution.

As savory foods are high in protein and fats, our body also requests more ingestion on savory foods, which may then cause a satisfied feeling when eating them.

On the other hand, as the article has mentioned, bitter foods are poisonous and may threaten the lives of creatures, so our body is telling us to stay away from those foods.

For sourness, our tastes can increase serotonin and other neurotransmitters in the brain, and it elevates mood and promotes wakefulness.

Additionally, for spicy foods, the reason for why many people like it is because they are excited to try something that is “dangerous”, and during this process the brain will release endorphin and dopamine and will make people feel good. After the brain finds out that everything is safe, people will undergo accomplishment.

Some fun facts about tastes

• Research shows that because bitter and sweet are in opposition in the brain, so if you experience less bitter, you will also experience less sweet, quite relatable, huh!

• Loud noises will affect how we taste foods!

• Everyone has different numbers of taste buds!

Overall, tastes act crucial roles in our lives, leaving us diverse emotions, and making our lives more colorful. Enjoy the happiness different tastes bring to you!

Please comment in the section below and share your experience with food with different tastes, and I will discuss with you too!