# Why do we need to smell in order to taste? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2007, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-need-to-smell-in-order-to-taste/406734 "2007-06-04T18:25:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-need-to-smell-in-order-to-taste/406734/1 "2007-06-04T18:25:45Z")
Since I’ve had this cold or whatever it is, I haven’t been able to smell anything, but I also can’t taste anything either. Why is that? Why must our nose work in order for us to taste most things properly? How does the whole nose+smell=taste thing work? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-need-to-smell-in-order-to-taste/406734/2 "2007-06-04T18:43:23Z")
I don’t know, but my sense of smell has been MIA since I was very young, and I do taste stuff. I don’t know if things taste the same to me as to other people, and I can’t generally distinguish ingredients or seasonings by taste alone, but it’s not nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-need-to-smell-in-order-to-taste/406734/3 "2007-06-04T18:48:16Z")
Per Alton Brown, the nose is needed because the tongue can only tell the four (or five) basic tastes, the nose helps to fill in the rest. ---
**Author:** ![happywaffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ee59a6/32.png) [@happywaffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happywaffle)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-need-to-smell-in-order-to-taste/406734/4 "2007-06-04T18:52:33Z")
I for one have never had this problem. YMMV, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-need-to-smell-in-order-to-taste/406734/5 "2007-06-04T19:31:43Z")
[QUOTE=diggleblop] Since I’ve had this cold or whatever it is, I haven’t been able to smell anything, but I also can’t taste anything either. Why is that? Why must our nose work in order for us to taste most things properly? How does the whole nose+smell=taste thing work? [/QUOTE] Your nose and tongue work together to provide a sensory experience. [I think this a decent link](http://www.tastescience.com/abouttaste2.html) explaining the connections between them. I must agree with you that losing one of them sucks. I once scalded my tongue with a hot cup of tea, and in the time before the buds grew back it was like eating paper and drinking hot nothing. ---
**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-need-to-smell-in-order-to-taste/406734/6 "2007-06-05T02:01:46Z")
[QUOTE=diggleblop] Since I’ve had this cold or whatever it is, I haven’t been able to smell anything, but I also can’t taste anything either. Why is that? Why must our nose work in order for us to taste most things properly? How does the whole nose+smell=taste thing work? [/QUOTE] Your nose has to work because we _don’t_ taste things, we smell them. You can taste salt, sour, sweet, and bitter. Everything else is smell. One great way I’ve found to confirm this is to eat something has a taste leading you one way and a smell leading you another. My particular favorite is garlic ice cream, a perennial delicacy available at the Gilroy, CA Garlic Festival. The ice cream _tastes_ sweet but _smells_ garlic. I find that experiencing both at the same time is distinctly odd, as if you ate ice cream and then immediately had someone pass a triple garlic pizza under your nose. Side note: Gilroy may or may not be the garlic capital of the world, but it sure has one hecka garlic growing nearby. During the summer especially, coming anywhere near the place reveals a distinct, pungent aroma. On a windy summer day, you can smell garlic in the air as far north as the Silicon Valley. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-need-to-smell-in-order-to-taste/406734/7 "2007-06-05T02:46:22Z")
You don’t need a sense of smell to taste. But most people confuse the two senses and believe they’re tasting things that they’re actually smelling. So if they lose their sense of smell, they also feel they’ve lost part of their sense of taste. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-need-to-smell-in-order-to-taste/406734/8 "2007-06-05T03:06:16Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle] I don’t know, but my sense of smell has been MIA since I was very young, and I do taste stuff. I don’t know if things taste the same to me as to other people, and I can’t generally distinguish ingredients or seasonings by taste alone, but it’s not nothing. [/QUOTE] Sad to say, since you lost your sense of smell when you were young you probably don’t know how things should taste. I have virtually lost my sense of smell and I have very little taste left. Oh, I can taste tomatos, for example, but not like before. The taste is still there on many things but very much muted and some other things are just stuff. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-need-to-smell-in-order-to-taste/406734/9 "2007-06-05T03:06:46Z")
[QUOTE=633squadron] You can taste salt, sour, sweet, and bitter. [/QUOTE] And “umami.” It’s the taste bud that, for lack of a better word, corresponds to something tasting savory/protein. It’s activated directly by MSG, which is why things with MSG taste better. ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-need-to-smell-in-order-to-taste/406734/10 "2007-06-05T03:12:28Z")
When my brother fell 47 feet and landed on his head, the only lasting effect of the coma and massive swelling of his brain was a complete loss of smell. He can’t smell anything, no matter how gross, yummy, pungent close or far it is. His sense of taste is still there. He claims his taste has heightened since the loss of smell. FTR, he was almost 40 when this happened to him, so he knows quite well how things should taste and definitely can tell when they taste bad or _not right_. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-need-to-smell-in-order-to-taste/406734/11 "2007-06-05T03:20:25Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] You don’t need a sense of smell to taste. But most people confuse the two senses and believe they’re tasting things that they’re actually smelling. So if they lose their sense of smell, they also feel they’ve lost part of their sense of taste. [/QUOTE] That makes sense. I’ve never lost my ability to taste when I was sick and I could never figure out what people who said they did were talking about. ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-need-to-smell-in-order-to-taste/406734/12 "2007-06-06T04:04:31Z")
[QUOTE=Litoris] When my brother fell 47 feet and landed on his head, the only lasting effect of the coma and massive swelling of his brain was a complete loss of smell. He can’t smell anything, no matter how gross, yummy, pungent close or far it is. His sense of taste is still there. He claims his taste has heightened since the loss of smell. FTR, he was almost 40 when this happened to him, so he knows quite well how things should taste and definitely can tell when they taste bad or _not right_. [/QUOTE] That’s amazing. How did he fall? What was he doing, etc…