Let's say that you and I decide to go out and get some lunch.
I decide to get a burger with the works
And you are a bit of an alcoholic, so you just decide to skip the food entirely
And get 3 different kinds of beer
Being the kind, sharing people that we are, we each offer the other a sample of our lunch
Even though my burger tastes great and is very flavorful to me, you think it's bland
And on the flip side, even though you got 3 very different types of beer
They all taste the same and very bitter to me. Why is that the case?
Why do different people taste things differently?
Let's start by looking at where taste comes from
Taste, scientifically referred to as Gustatory Perception, or Gustation,
Is the sensation we experience when a food or other substance in the mouth
Reacts chemically with what are called taste receptor cells
These cells are located within your taste buds
Which are mostly concentrated on your tongue and each contain 50-100 of these taste receptor cells
You've probably heard that you can only taste certain flavors on certain portions of your tounge
But that's not actually the case
The section of the human brain responsible for perception of taste
is called the Gustatory Cortex, which is located right by the areas that control chewing and swallowing
Now the human tongue, obviously with help from the brain
Has the ability to detect and differentiate between 5 separate elements of taste
Which are broadly classified as salty, sour bitter, sweet, and umami, or savory
These aren't arbitrary catitigories
Rather, they've been tested and confirmed to be distinct from one another
Besides the 5 basic tastes,
we all know that smell has a lot to do with perceived flavor as well.
When you are sick or have a stuffy nose, food seems bland or tastless
Other contributes to flavor include texture, temperature, and coolness or hotness, like a mint or chili pepper.
This full assortment of sensations gives us the experience we know as taste.
Evolutionary speaking, taste played an important role in survival
Bitterness in foods helped our ancestors learn to avoid potentially poisonous plants
And sweetness helped identify energy rich foods
Which is part of the reason we are drawn to unhealthy snacks and drinks today.
That's basic taste in a nutshell
But why do we experience foods differently?
Why is something bitter to me but not someone else?
The two main components of of individual taste perception are genetics and geography.
Let's start with genetics.
Between individuals, there can be considerable differences of the number and shape
of fungiform papillae, the stuctures that house taste buds.
The more of these structures you have, the more taste buds you have
And the more taste buds you have,
The stronger the signal sent from the mouth to your brain.
These stronger signals cause people to experience flavors and often smells much more strongly.
These people can often easily distinguish between individual flavors in a mixture.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, people with fewer taste buds experience more muted flavors and smells
And cannot distinguish between individual flavors in a mixture as easily.
These different types of people are grouped into categories.
Those with highly sensitive tongues are called supertasters
And those with much less sensitive tongues are called non tasters, or sub-tasters
That leaves the people in between with the label of middle tasters or medium tasters.
Besides differences in flavor intensity, individuals also differ in the sensory capacities for the base tastes.
This is due to structural differences of the receptors on your taste cells
The structure of these receptors is purely genetics
For example, there are around 30 different genes for bitterness perception,
Which each register different levels of taste.
With some not even registering the unpleasant bitterness at all.
The second main contributing factor for taste perception
Appears to be linked to where you live and your ethnic background
For example, researchers used a bitter tasting chemical referred to as PTC
To explore individual differences in taste sensitivity
There are certain variants of a particular gene that renders some people unable to taste the chemical.
And research seems to indicate that there is a distinct difference in PTC sensitivity
Between Africans and Non-Africans.
In these charts, the blue represents the frequency of the gene variant which allows detection of PTC
Red shows the Non-Taster percentage,
And grey represents the frequency of variants that confer intermediate taste sensitivity
This map shows the populations with the lowest prevalence of taste sensitivity to PTC
The darker the region, the higher the percentage of the population in the area that can taste the chemical
With the exception of the aboriginal populations of Australia,
The groups with the lowest prevalence of sensitivity to PTC
Are located in Europe, the Middle East, and India
Which has lead some researchers to believe that the genes associated with PTC non tasting
Were linked with populations that entered Europe from the middle east after the last ice age.
As fascinating as all that is, I'm sure what you really want to know what kind of a taster you are.
Are you part of that special 25% of the population that has a heightened sense of taste?
Or the 25% that are considered non-tasters?
Or, are you just a regular middle taster?
There are some easy ways to determine the answer.
If you're food preferences haven't already clued you in.
First, you can use blue food coloring to dye your tongue.
Fungiform Pappilae do not stain blue
so they stand out very clearly against your tongue.
Without someone else's tongue to compare yours to, it might be difficult to tell if you're a non taster or a middle taster.
But it should be clear if you are a super taster.
If you want something a little more scientific, you can buy a PTC Test Kit
Then if you're a supertaster, you'll know.
But, if you can't be bothered to dye your tongue or buy a test kit,
Here are some usual giveaways.
Supertasters usually find things unbearably bitter that most other people don't
Coffee, alcohol, and vegetables like kale are 3 common offenders.
In the end, whatever your taste profile, you obviously have great taste in videos.
If you would like to learn more about the science of taste, check out the links in the description.
Make sure to subscribe if you haven't already, follow Second Thought on your favorite social media,
And leave a comment down below about what your favorite and least favorite tastes are.
You can watch my previous video by clicking here, or watch them all by clicking here.
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.