You probably know what this tastes like, or this, or even this.
It tastes as good as it smells, every time. But there are about 10 to 15 million people
in the US with taste and smell disorders, and for them, these might not taste exactly
like they're supposed to. People say it feels like eating air. Eating a steak might feel
like chewing salty leather, M&Ms might feel like crunchy rocks, tofu — well tofu might
taste the same. But point being, there are a lot of people out there who don't experience
flavors normally. "There's a hidden epidemic of this problem
in the United States, and even in the world." Issues like this happen for so many different
reasons that it's hard to pinpoint one cause. And you might think, you know, whatever, it's
just taste. This is the kind of thing that movies joke about.
"I think I lost my sense of smell." "You gone smell blind, son."
But taste and smell disorders can cause some serious problems. People almost always stop
eating normally: they either overeat because they eventually hope to feel satisfied, or
they undereat because nothing satisfies them. And because they can't taste or smell, they
run the risk of consuming a lot of things they shouldn't: rotten food, spoiled milk,
or even harmful smoke and gas. "I had something in a toaster oven. My then-husband
walked in the house and went 'you have a fire!' He unplugged it. I didn't smell anything,
unless I had turned around I wouldn't have seen it."
Fortunately there are rehabilitation programs that can help cure this. There's no official universally
accepted treatment as of right now, and sometimes the fix is only temporary. But when it does
work, it can be a huge lifestyle change. And that is a pretty sweet deal.