Have you ever been put off eating food because of the smell? Or been unable to taste food when you have a cold? Yes, you've know only too well, from the frustration of not being able to taste with a blocked nose to the joy of smelling your mum's Sunday lunch spread through the house - you can practically taste it. And there's a good reason for this. Unsurprisingly, taste is actually closely tied to smell because the nasal cavity and oral cavity are closely interlinked, separated by only the palate, which is why some people can do that cool party trick where they put something in their nose and it comes out of their mouth. Have you ever tried that? My uncle used to do it with a pencil when I was a kid, it was great, he would ... What? Oh, sorry ... anyway ... back on topic. As you probably know, taste is measured by sweet, sour, salty and bitter, as well as texture and temperature. However, smell actually allows us a wider variance when it comes to taste because our noses can detect actual chemicals within foods, and it refines the taste for us. It allows us to distinguish different qualities of food, which is why food is tasteless or strange tasting when we have a blocked nose. The smell of food also helps to prepare our digestive tracts by stimulating saliva in the mouth and gastric juices within the stomach, which is why your mouth starts watering when you take a whiff of a Gregg's pasty. See, your noses knows what your belly wants.
9. Why Do Fizzy Drinks Taste Worse When They Go Flat?
We've all done this haven't we? Opened up a can of pop and left it to go flat, or worse, warm, and I think we can all agree that it tastes vile when that happens, right? Coca Cola just isn't the same without the burp inducing bubbles, and who doesn't like the tickle when they go up your nose. Am I right? But a flat coke has been a curse to us all, why does the taste go when the fizz is gone? The ingredients are all still there, aren't they? Kind of. The reason carbonated drinks fizz and are usually held at a low temperature before being opened is because of the carbon dioxide. The tricky little gas is dissolved at high pressure and low temperatures in each bottle and can, which is why it has that strange full taste at the first cold sip. This carbonation adds a weak acid which gives the drink a little tang and hint of flavour, or lack thereof if you drink Tizer. Plus, it also acts as a preservative which gives it that sweet goodness. However, when we open the can we release the pressure and the carbon dioxide escapes in bubbles, thus taking the flavour with them, so that's why you should also keep a can or bottle of coke sealed and cold at all times. And also, when we ask for a coke, we expect a coke. A Pepsi is not alright, okay?