Book 1, Question 16 · Video
Why Does Food Taste Weird When You Have a Cold?
Why does your favorite snack suddenly taste blah when you are stuffed up? Flavor is taste plus smell: your tongue senses sweet, salty, sour and bitter, while your nose picks up tin
Read the full answer →What Crafty Clover says in this video
Intro
Hi! I'm Crafty Clover! Let's discover something amazing. Why does food taste weird when you have a cold?
The Big Idea
Achoo! With a cold, your favorite foods can taste bland, or just plain weird. But your tongue still works fine! The real troublemaker is your stuffy nose. Let's find out why!
Taste Plus Smell
Step one: flavor is taste, plus smell! Your tongue tastes sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami too. But your nose also smells tiny scent particles from your food, And tells your brain. Taste plus smell equals flavor!
Nose Blocked
Step two: a stuffed nose blocks smell. With a cold, mucus and swelling stuff up your nose. That stops scent particles from reaching your smell receptors, The smell detectors high up inside your nose.
Part of the Message
Step three: your brain gets only part of the message. It gets taste signals, but hardly any smell signals. So your brain wonders: where's the rest of the flavor? The message is incomplete, so food tastes bland, or weird!
A Closer Look
Let's look inside your head! When you sniff, smells travel up your nose. Smells from food in your mouth float up too, through the back of your throat! Your brain mixes smell signals with taste signals. With a cold, the smell path is blocked.
Quick Facts
Quick facts! Hot soup still feels good! Warmth and texture are sensed by touch. So cozy soup is comforting, even with a cold. Spicy foods still have a zing, because spiciness is a feeling, not a smell. And when your cold goes away, smell returns, and food tastes amazing again!
Think Like a Scientist
Now, think like a scientist! Try this test to see the power of smell. First, sniff an orange slice, then taste it. Notice the flavor. Now pinch your nose closed, and taste it again. What changes? Without smell, flavor gets weaker. Record what you noticed!
Outro
So a stuffy nose makes food taste weird. When it clears, flavor comes right back! Remember, Crafty Clover can be found on Amazon Books, Google Bookstore, and Apple Books. Available for purchase or download! Bye for now!