The Science of Taste II: Tastes Like Chicken?

by Erik Rye

December 2009

You've heard the old saying "there is no accounting for taste?" It turns out that is not exactly correct. We asked Dr. Linda Bartoshuk of the University of Florida's Center for Smell and Taste about accounting for taste, because she's been doing exactly that. In her view, the old saying is more about a broader idea that people have different preferences, but in her research on smell and taste, she's discovered that you can measure certain specifics.

Dr. Bartoshuk is famous for the discovery of supertasters, people with talented tongues. The phenomenon made a splash in the food world, and even had a song named after it: "John Lee Supertaster," by They Might Be Giants. "I bought the album!" Dr. Bartoshuk told us.

During her supertaster research, she realized an important point: all taste research up to that point had been subjective. Scientists were faithfully recording what people said about a taste, and simply assumed that a taste described as "strong" by one person was the same for another person who described it as "strong". Oops.

Words like "strong" mean different things to people, based on their personal experiences and frames of reference. Dr. Bartoshuk solved this problem by establishing reference points that different people could use to calibrate their descriptions. She used other senses (sound) and had them turn the speakers up or down to describe how "strong" a taste was. Suddenly, they could see the distortion between individuals and eliminate the relativity between the people tasting.

This method is now used for quantitative descriptors (strong, weak), but does it work for qualitative descriptors (this wine tastes like blackberries)? "We don't know if relativity extends to qualitative descriptors," Dr. Bartoshuk said. Which means that we might be using the same words, but tasting different things.

We put Dr. Bartoshuk to the test on this point:

WGL: "Why does everything taste like chicken?"

Dr. B: (laughing) "You mean like when they say try this alligator, it tastes just like chicken?"

WGL: "Exactly."

Dr. B. "I tried the alligator. It does taste like chicken!"

WGL: "Does it really?"

Dr. B. "Yes, and it could be that mild tastes, like chicken, seem similar to other mild tastes, since they do not stand out as much."

WGL: "Hmm. Have you ever seen The Matrix, where they explain why everything tastes like chicken?"

Dr. B: "No, I'll have to rent it..."

So the next time someone tells you what you're tasting, just remember: they can measure the strength of tastes, but the actual taste itself remains elusive, and your individual perceptions and preferences still count for a lot. Or, as the weird bald kid said in the movie, "there is no spoon, it is the self that bends..." Whoa....!