Why People Taste Things Differently

Everyone has different preferences when it comes to food, but why is that? Why the variation? As Anthony tells us, it's all down to something called papillae.

Read More:
FYI: Why Does Some Food Taste Bad To Some People And Good To Others?
"People who have a lot of papillae—the bumps on our tongue, most of which house our taste buds—often find flavors overwhelming."

How Taste Works
"Until recently, scientists have accepted four basic tastes. You know them well -- sweet, salty, sour and bitter."

How does our sense of taste work?
"A bitter pill, sour grapes or sweet nothings -- descriptions of taste are very often associated with strong emotions."

How Does the Sense of Taste Work?
"The sense of taste begins with the taste buds, located on top of the fungiform papillae, or the large bumps on the tongue."

Watch More:
How We See Colors:
Why Old Books Smell Good:
Pick Your Poison: Ricin:
____________________

DNews is dedicated to satisfying your curiosity and to bringing you mind-bending stories & perspectives you won't find anywhere else! New videos twice daily.

[lfx]

I already started drilling the hole...

[servals]

I want to try the food dye trick, but my family would come home to me with a blue mouth, and I would have to explain why I'm being a "nerd" again by watching all of this "irrelevant" stuff, and the two dull people called my parents put it. 

[Seeker]

Spicy/hot isn't actually a taste- it's a sensation that comes from the pain receptors on your tongue reacting to capsaicin in spicy foods. -Anthony

[alekever]

This is cool and all, but it never actually answered the question about why everyone have different food preferences.

[TheMrNanners]

I am a Supertaster and it sucks sometimes. I am so picky also, scent I am very affected by it. I can only eat things that my family thinks what I eat is bland.

[nidodson]

It has a LOT to do with your food experience as well. Many of us hated the taste of certain foods at first, but after being exposed to it many times, we grow appreciation for it.

I hated Mountain Dew at first, then became obsessed with it, now it ranks as a meh for me, and I don't get it anymore. Part of the obsessed phase was due to my mental perspective of it, which also plays a major role, which is why what your food looks like can wildly change how you think it taste as well. Then texture also plays an important role.

So when we taste things, we do far more than just taste them, which greatly impacts how we think thing taste, beyond what they actually taste like.

[dansattah]

Taste is something really special. It's one of many factors, that can decide how well you can or can not integrate yourself in foreign cultures. For instance I have been living in Germany for the longest time of my life, but even though I like the meat and fish in the North, I hate the white sausages in Bavaria.

[jadeweimer]

One time my mom made tacos (my favorite food) and everyone had already eaten like 3 each! So I took a bite of one and threw up because I was the only one in my family who tasted the expired cheese :/

[BunnyFett]

You're supposed to count the papillae within a specific circumference after you put the dye on your tongue.

[bre]

I wouldn't say I'm a supertaster, but I can taste the differences in some things, like water.. which sucks because the water I like is more expensive, but the other water just tastes too bad for me to drink it all the time (cause I drink a lot of water everyday). And you know how there are people who say Pepsi and Coca-Cola taste the same (Or is it Dr. pepper?), I can definitely taste a difference. And I am not so fond of bitter tastes, for me those are quite strong, and I even taste a slight bitterness in some sodas. I can't eat strawberries because they taste more bitter than sweet to me.. And I can not stand the taste of meat. You can accidentally (or sometimes people would "accidentally") put even the smallest piece of meat in my food, and I WILL find it. 
What about being a super smeller? Is that a thing? Cause I'd say I pretty much really do experience that. Like my mom could be eating celery in her room, and I'm in the livingroom (There's only about 5-6 feet between where I sit and the door to her room), and I can smell it. I can not be in the same room as celery because the smell is just so strong. And I can smell different ingredients in food around me. Like, back in high school, I could be 50 feet from the cafeteria and be able to say "Oh, they must be serving turkey and mashed potatoes with gravy today." or with eggrolls, and chicken, and noddles. Seriously though, it is really annoying sometimes. Even if its been an hour after the food has been in the room, sometimes I will still smell it. Or even 6 hours after my mom mopped the floors I can smell it as if it was 6 minutes ago.

[fen]

For one thing, the availability of food changed everything. Go without eating for a while and just about any food will taste good. Meat and fat have high concentrations of energy and so pound for pound is a much better food source. But getting meat is suppose to be very difficult, and our bodies are adapted to survive off vegetation between our lucky strikes when we could get meat.

[dbstube]

Probably a 'supertaster/supersmeller' because it's usually me that can detect 'off' odors and tastes in foods or in the environment such as something burning or a chemical release long before others along with many other scents/tastes (smelling for me is a lot like tasting so my word for the experience is 'smasting'
The ability to detect flavors and odors along with knowing what they are means being able to duplicate dishes/recipes and fragrances as long as the ingredients are available but it does not mean my avoiding spicy foods as some of my favorite dishes include chilies and the addition of hot sauces including Habanero.
'Ever wonder how a dog might perceive their environment? Try this: for a week or so try to be conscious of detectable odors/'smastes' as you go through your day by making a mental note and count of the different scent or scents you detect. For example, walking from a parking lot and then through a building you may find 20 or more smells/'smastes' along with variables in the freshness and humidity of the air. Now, imagine what dogs might be smelling that makes their noses twitch in ordinary spaces!

[martinderige]

So, you covered the importance of sweet, bitter, and salty? Why differentiate between bitter and umami(savoury)?

[countduku]

I’m food sensitive to a lot of things, but I can particularly tell if something has smoked paprika (even down to under 1% of a dish)

[Seeker]

I think the original book was printed in 1909. I'm not sure when the theory was totally thrown out, but it stuck around for a long time after it was disproven. -Anthony

[dinofearme]

Can y'all do a video on why the spots that people get from geographic tongue (like my sister and I) do not hold on to food dyes?

[wowonice]

I always loved the taste of a giant, crunchy, cold dill pickle. Describing it even makes my mouth water...

[Seeker]

Yep! Taste changes for sure, and for a number of reasons- declining number of taste buds, taste bud atrophy, changes in your nose/sense of smell, and the decline of the nerve connections between your tongue/nose and your brain. -Anthony

[LieutenantSheep]

Pretty sure I'm a supertaster. I can be sitting in the room down the hall while dinner is being prepared and say "I smell x and y" and I'm usually spot on. I also like my coffee really mild coffee and spicy food is torture. This is actually really interesting to me! Thanks, Dnews!

[ldld]

I think there's way more to being able to taste then what your saying, tasting and likening what we taste is very complex, there's a variety of reasons that we might not be able to explain!!