Does the same food taste the same to everyone?

Answer 1

I can't believe there have been so many responses here and yet no-one has yet said the most important thing about taste: It has VERY LITTLE to do with your taste buds!

The myriad of sensations that we experience as the 'taste' of a certain food are mainly the result of chemical sensors located at the top of the nasal cavity (try tasting different foods while holding your nose and see how little you can taste!).

We know that different people react in different ways to particular tastes, but are they each experiencing the same 'taste'? Probably not - as, although they MAY have had similar neurons triggered by the chemical receptors, those signals have to be interpreted by the conscious mind. As each person's conscious interpretations of the world differs partly due to genetics and partly due to life experiences, each person's overall 'sensation' of taste would be different.

Essentially, we can never be absolutely sure without getting into the heads of each of the people tasting the foods - it's like trying to figure out whether the colour blue that you see is the same colour blue that someone else sees when you both look at the sky (think hard about this one before you blow me off about it!).

Answer 2

No, or the saying would never have arisen that "tastes mostly differ." The same foods can produce profoundly different sensations, pleasant or unpleasant, for different people.

The taste buds are linked to nerves that transmit sensations of taste, temperature and touch to the brain. Scientists have quantified how taste is determined by the number of taste buds and their distribution, affecting sensitivity to the major tastes — sweet, sour, salty and bitter — as well as to things like hot peppers and the fat content of food.

About 25 percent of the population are supertasters, blessed or cursed with a heightened sensitivity because the concentration of their taste buds can be 100 times as great as the concentration in nontasters, who also make up about 25 percent of the world. Regular tasters, about half of all people, fall somewhere in between.

Supertasters usually find sweet foods unpleasant, because sugar is twice as potent to their taste buds. The same holds true for some strongly flavored fruits and vegetables, like broccoli and grapefruit.

Taste differences are mostly genetically programmed but can fluctuate with hormone levels. Also, damage to nerves in the brain can permanently or temporarily alter the sensation a food excites..

Answer 3

I don't think so! It has to do with taste buds and the amount of them that you have. Some people's have less taste buds and they flavor of some things just don't taste good to them. While other people have more taste buds and the flavor of some thing will taste better to them. Or vise verse, as it can work either way.

That is one reason why some children don't think that some thing tastes good to them, their taste buds may not be fully developed so that some things taste weird to them. Often when they get older the very things that they didn't like while growing up they may find that they like as an adult.

Answer 4

No. Our taste buds can only distinguish four flavors: salty, sweet, sour and bitter. The taste of food is a very complex combination of these and will vary depending on how the taste buds are arranged in each tongue and there are also cultural factors and even training to distinguish flavors.

Answer 5

And then there's the genetics... genes some folks have will allow them to taste compounds that others can't. PTC, for an example. Both my mother and her mother had strong reactions to PTC, yet my father did not... working out the family genetics can be quite fun.

And to add to an above entry, it is not only four tastes: there are at least five. Salt, sour, sweet, bitter, and umami are the current standard.

Answer 6

No. Taste depends upon the taste receptors which may be different for everyone

Answer 7

No, it depends on the activity of the taste bud and past taste experiences of the indivudual.

Answer 8

Knowone will ever know coz we can't take other ppls taste buds and see but we all have different DNA and we all look different so why not taste things differently who knows

Answer 9

Don't think so. I don't like foods that some other people love so it must no feel the same.

Answer 10

No, some people have more sensitive taste buds then others.