flavor can be described basically as a combination of taste sensations that happen within the mouth and smell sensations collected in the nose. Certainly enjoying food or drink despite a stuffy nose can be a challenge; the two senses seem to be distinct. We put food and drink into our mouths, mix it with our saliva, and then “taste” it, though we may be more informed by the aromas we sense than the so-called primary flavors of sweet, sour, salt, bitter, and umami. Yet other senses also come into play when we describe “flavor” more comprehensively. The body collects data about food and drink from the look of it and seeks certainty of its provenance and safety by evaluating its texture (should this be mushy?); even sound is important for the appreciation of many crunchy foods (snap! crackle! and pop! indeed). Flavor is more and more acknowledged as the collection of all possible sensory responses to food and drink.
Taste describes the collection of sensory information via physiochemical receptors in the mouth, but also the throat, esophagus, stomach and even, some think, the intestines. Fungiform, foliate, and circumvallate papillae, however, provide the greater part of the flavor information our mouths provide us. These are assisted by taste buds, groups of taste receptors composed of microvilli, tiny nerve fibers strung out from the receptor’s membrane. These react to certain chemicals (like salt or sugar) or chemical properties (like bitterness, tartness, umami, or acidity). Things then get murky. Perhaps sugar and bitterness are received by the same receptors; what about salty and sour foods? Regardless of how it’s collected, this information is bundled, then sent to the medulla and thalamus and on to the cortex.
Tactile perceptions of food and drink in the mouth are just as important to flavor as aromas and specific tastes. The density of a whisky or the silkiness of a Martini inform the taster’s preference; our mouths provide such information through the sense of touch, but it is also known that the human gut is responsive to fats and other important food and drink compounds.
And most curiously, humans seem to be the only creatures who crave spicy foods; capsaicin (the compound that provides the heat) is sufficient to turn off most other animals.
In the West, our deep-seated notion of four basic tastes is not as old as many think. And some scientists remain hostile to the notion of the so-called fifth flavor, described first by Dr. Kikunae Ikeda in 1919 as umami, or deliciousness. This proposed fifth primary flavor stirs controversy because not all scientists believe the mouth contains specific glutamate receptors (though it’s agreed the gut holds some). Nonetheless, popular wisdom and contemporary culinary thought accept umami’s influence even if there is little agreement upon its impact in food and drink. Dominant umami flavors have been shown to react with bitterness and/or astringency in some tasters, for instance, leaving them with a metallic taste. Young cabernet and raw oysters is a good example of this phenomenon, though the response is by no means universal.
Umami is most often described as savory, though some writers and educators will wax poetic, describing it as “harmony” or “balance.” If it is a specific flavor, as many believe, it need not represent some greater qualitative assessment. Those seeking a good representation of umami can taste raw broccoli and then sip the broth from a pan of cooked broccoli. Tomatoes, braised meats—there are many other distinct representations of umami. The question as to whether or not umami is present in spirits is still unsettled, though it is increasingly hypothesized that aged whiskies, agave spirits, and some rums and cachaças can exhibit this same brothy umami flavor.
Beauchamp, Gary K., and Linda Bartoshuk, eds. Tasting and Smelling, 2nd ed. San Diego: Academic, 1997.
Wolfe, Jeremy M., Keith R. Kluender, and Dennis M. Levi. Sensation and Perception, 3rd ed. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer, 2012.
Kawamura, Yojiro, and Morley R. Kare, eds. Umami, a Basic Taste. New York: Dekker, 1987.
By: Doug Frost