Have you ever wondered whether that myth of “you can’t taste your food when you close your nose” is real? I’m sure you’ve tried it and gotten your own results, but do you know why that response happens?
To start off, I had my mom try to figure out what certain foods were by smelling them with her eyes closed, then taste them with her eyes and nose closed, then with her eyes open and her nose closed, and finally with her eyes and nose open. For the smelling part of the experiment I put baby powder, peanuts, oranges, dog food, carrots, and bread in a bag and had her cover her eyes and smell what was in each bag. For the eating part of the experiment, I got rid of the dog food and baby powder and added apples to the list. My hypothesis was that she would be able to identify all of the items when she smelled them, but would not be able to taste any of the items with her nose closed. I think this because, she cooks a lot and so she knows what these items smell like and I don’t think she will be able to taste them because smell is an important factor in taste. I had 4 independent …show more content…
This happens because while your tongue has taste buds, they can’t detect everything so your nose helps you taste. The smell of the food fires neurons in your olfactory tract. These neurons are then able to tell your brain what they have sensed which helps you taste. So, by plugging your nose you aren’t allowing for the smell of the food to reach the olfactory receptors which affects the taste of food because you rely on both your taste buds and your sense of smell and your taste buds can’t do it alone. Knowing that you rely on both your taste buds and your sense of smell to taste foods, you now know why foods don’t always taste the same when you have a stuffy nose. Your sense of taste can also be affected by smoking. This explains why people who smoke don’t have a strong sense of smell and don’t taste as much in their food as someone who doesn’t
To start off, I had my mom try to figure out what certain foods were by smelling them with her eyes closed, then taste them with her eyes and nose closed, then with her eyes open and her nose closed, and finally with her eyes and nose open. For the smelling part of the experiment I put baby powder, peanuts, oranges, dog food, carrots, and bread in a bag and had her cover her eyes and smell what was in each bag. For the eating part of the experiment, I got rid of the dog food and baby powder and added apples to the list. My hypothesis was that she would be able to identify all of the items when she smelled them, but would not be able to taste any of the items with her nose closed. I think this because, she cooks a lot and so she knows what these items smell like and I don’t think she will be able to taste them because smell is an important factor in taste. I had 4 independent …show more content…
This happens because while your tongue has taste buds, they can’t detect everything so your nose helps you taste. The smell of the food fires neurons in your olfactory tract. These neurons are then able to tell your brain what they have sensed which helps you taste. So, by plugging your nose you aren’t allowing for the smell of the food to reach the olfactory receptors which affects the taste of food because you rely on both your taste buds and your sense of smell and your taste buds can’t do it alone. Knowing that you rely on both your taste buds and your sense of smell to taste foods, you now know why foods don’t always taste the same when you have a stuffy nose. Your sense of taste can also be affected by smoking. This explains why people who smoke don’t have a strong sense of smell and don’t taste as much in their food as someone who doesn’t