Food and Our Sensory System

What do our senses have to do with our food?

Quick Glance: Five Senses

Five Senses: Sight, Touch, Taste, Smell, Hearing Humans have five senses. They are taste, smell, touch, sight, and sound. All the senses play a role in Food Science but more importantly eating! Think about eating a cracker— first you see it. You might notice the color and the salt crystals. Next you touch it and notice the texture and feel the crumbs on your fingers. Then, as you bring the cracker to your mouth, you smell it. Does it have a flavor like garlic or herbs? Then you eat it and taste the saltiness and any other flavors that are present. These senses work together to help us enjoy food to its greatest extent. What would happen if we did not have one of these senses? Would it be the same?

Explore: Airplane Food

Nothing beats airplane food, right??

Have you ever flown in an airplane? Have you eaten airline food? I am not talking about peanuts or pretzels. On longer flights, the airline will offer food selections for passengers. Believe it or not, our senses play a role in how that food tastes at that altitude.

How Our Senses Work

All our senses work together so we can enjoy food; touch helps us to identify what we are eating as well as the texture. It can also make us “gag” if we don’t enjoy the texture or it is slimy. Think of a raw oyster or snail! We also are drawn to certain food colors like red and yellow. Thankfully, there are not too many blue food items because those are not as popular! Taste and smell work together to make us think of familiar foods. The smell of turkey or ham at Thanksgiving or warm pumpkin pie. Not to be left out is the sense of hearing. Opening a bag of chips or cookies can make our mouth salivate.

Let’s look a little more closely at some of these different senses. Read below to learn more about how each sense makes an impact on what we eat.

Taste

Have you ever looked at your tongue in a mirror? Can you see the little papillae on your tongue? These papillae sense taste sensations and flavors. In addition, each of these papillae contain more than 200 taste buds, which are scattered over the surface of the tongue. Scientists believe that certain areas on the tongue can be more specific to certain flavor profiles. In the early days, the primary tastes gave early humans clues about what food was good to eat and what was harmful. Sweet foods had calories whereas salty foods were linked to vitamins and minerals. Sour foods could be healthy, but also might be an indicator of a spoiled item like milk. We still crave and respond to our ancestral favorites even now.

Use the presentation below to learn about each type of taste bud.

Smell

Besides the sense of taste, smell is one of the most important senses regarding food. Olfactory Neurons, which are found in the nose, connect smells and sensations to the brain. Each neuron detects one certain odor. Smells reach these neurons two ways. One through the nostrils and the second through the roof of the mouth. Chewing food releases these aromas which travel one of these paths. If your nostrils are blocked by mucus from a cold, this could lessen your taste of a specific item. There are other items that can affect your sense of smell. Those items are listed below-

Aging

Sinus and other upper respiratory infections
Smoking
Growths in the nasal cavities
Head injury
Hormonal disturbances
Dental problems
Exposure to certain chemicals, such as insecticides and solvents
Numerous medications, including some common antibiotics and antihistamines
Radiation for treatment of head and neck cancers
Conditions that affect the nervous system, such as Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease.

Touch

Many people do not consider touch when we talk about food. But, it is quite important to the enjoyment of certain foods. Touch encompasses texture, moisture level, fluidity, temperature, chewiness, greasiness, astringency, pain (like that from hot chili peppers), and any other tactile experience we get while chewing or swallowing. Most people want the feel of the food in their mouth to be a pleasant one. Soggy cereal or warm soda is not a positive experience. To that note, people do not want to eat food that is hard or too rigid to chew. Most have found that as food hardness increases, perceived flavor intensity decreases.

Hearing

Most people do not think that hearing could be linked to food, but in many ways it is. Beginning in Russia in 1904, a Scientist name Pavlov found that when a bell was rung, dogs came to eat. They started thinking about food and salivating for it. That is a conditioned response. Humans are much the same way. When we hear bacon or sausage sizzling in the morning or items being fried in a deep fryer, we start thinking about food. Another way that hearing plays a role in the food sensory notion is with a special nerve called the chorda tympani. This nerve runs across the eardrum and if it is damaged, it can affect 2/3 of that side of the tongue. So, that might determine how well someone is able to taste certain flavors.

Sight

Sight is a unique sense. Food can be identified and related by sight alone. Appearance is important in how food looks. If it does not look appealing, we are less likely to eat it. For example, a banana that is too ripe or a strawberry with mold on it. Humans are naturally drawn to certain colors regarding choosing foods. Reds, yellows, and greens are common colors for most people. Consistency, size/shape, and garnishes can also be a draw for many people when choosing food or looking at their meal. Many studies have been compiled on color and taste. See a few examples below-

Clear fluids- Usually related as the most refreshing because of our fondness and relationship with water.
Red Color- Many think items that are colored red are sweeter because of the relation with strawberries, raspberries, watermelon, etc.
Yellow color- Associated with sour items due to experience with lemons.

All 5 Working Together

This video is a great introduction to how all our senses work together to enjoy food.

Challenge

So how do our senses play a role in what we eat? Try the challenge below to test your knowledge.

Takeaway: What Is Your Takeaway?

As we know, humans rely on their senses to enjoy food and satisfy their appetite. But, for animals it is a little different. Check out these amazing senses and how they are used to find food.

A Sparrow- Retina has 400,000 photoreceptors per sq. mm. They can spot food from high in the sky or from a tree branch.
A Dolphin- Can hear frequencies up to at least 100,000 Hz. This helps them to locate food swimming in the water.
The Butterfly- Has chemoreceptors (taste receptors) on its feet. This helps the animals to locate pollen and nectar.
The Alligator- Has 1000’s of tiny touch receptors around the mouth which helps him to feel vibrations in the water and hunt for food.
The Bear- Has a profound sense of smell. This might be one of the reasons he is always getting into garbage cans. This helps him to find food.

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