Mystery of the Senses—Taste

Student Handout

Taste Survey

Would you still enjoy your favorite foods if you couldn't see them or smell them? Your taste buds recognize four flavors—sweet, sour, salt, and bitter—through receptors that are activated by molecules of sugars, acids, salts, and bases. But your other senses also affect what you taste. If you've ever noticed that food tastes different when you have a bad cold, you know how much your sense of smell is involved in eating. To find out how vision, smell, and touch affect taste, conduct this food survey with your partner.

Procedure

1. Choose one person to be the taster and one person to be the tester.

2. The taster should plug her nose and wear a blindfold.

3. Bring out the food samples, which have been kept hidden up to this point.

4. The tester should place a piece of the first food sample on the tongue of the taster.

5. The taster should feel the food with her or his tongue, chew, and swallow. While doing so, the taster should identify as many textures and flavors as possible.

6. After the taster tastes the food, ask the following questions and record the taster's answers in the chart.

7. When the tasting is done, the taster can remove the blindfold and nose plug. Then the taster should answer the questions below.

	Food 1	Food 2	Food 3	Food 4	Food 5	Food 6
Describe the taste and texture of the food. Use as many adjectives as you can.
Does the food taste sweet, sour, salty, bitter, or a combination of these four tastes?
What do you think you have just tasted?

Questions

1. Which foods were easiest to identify?

2. Which were most difficult?

3. Which foods had the strongest tastes?

4. How did the texture of foods help or confuse you?