Taste, the sense that allows us to appreciate the beauty of good food, is something scientists understand fairly well. The sensation we feel when eating a piece of cake, chewing on a hamburger or taking the first bite of a piping hot piece of pizza is triggered when chemicals in our food interact with receptors in our mouths.
For hundreds of years, scientists have known about four basic tastes: sour, sweet, salty and bitter. More recently, a Japanese chemist discovered a fifth basic taste, umami, which is triggered by monosodium glutamate, or MSG, as it’s more widely known. Umami, perhaps best described as savory, is especially prevalent in truffles, meat and anchovies.
And now, scientists believe they have found a sixth basic taste that could profoundly change the way we eat.
In a new study, researchers found evidence that fat interacts with our taste buds in a way similar to the five basic tastes. We have known for some time that receptors in our mouths recognize fat, which has led scientists to believe it could change the way we perceive food in the same way that tastes such as sour and sweet do. Now there’s evidence that it does.
“Fat is likely another one of the basic tastes. I think we have pretty clear evidence for this,” said Richard Mattes, a professor of nutrition science at Purdue University, and the lead author of the study.
If people learn to manipulate the taste of fat correctly, he says, it will allow us to make tons of food taste better by either reproducing the taste of fat or introducing substitutes that successfully mimic it.
“We could isolate it and use it in the same way we have used the other basic tastes,” said Mattes.
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