Tastebuds and Taste?

Question

Why if there are only 6 or 7 different tastes (counting umami or not)
can i destinguish strawberries from potatoes?

Answer 1

There are only 4 tastes that we can distinguish, they are - sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. Umami is a lesser-known taste not fully understood yet. Here's a great article that explains how the taste buds and the nose work together to create the tastes we experience.
http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/talk/qa/taste_buds.html

A little more info here.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/04/the_odd_body_taste/