Culture and food

Everyday around the world people in different cultures eat different foods, but what makes people able to taste all these different flavors, and why does the perception of what “tastes good” change based on where people live? The human tongue can only actually taste four different tastes, salty, sweet, bitter and sour. The combination and the intensity of these four separate tastes is what gives food the flavor that we know. Then when you add temperature, texture, and smell you can get an almost unlimited amount of flavors. The idea of a “taste map” on the tongue is false, if the tongue could really only taste one taste in each section of the tongue then you wouldn’t be able to taste sugar on the back of your tongue. In reality the sides of the tongue are more sensitive than the middle, with each taste varying slightly in where the taste is most received. Certain tastes can be more concentrated in some spots, like how the bitter taste is mostly concentrated toward the back. The cause for bitter to be toward the back is so that we can detect poisons and spoiled food before it travels through the body1. The taste of sweet is caused by sugars, any kind of sugar can cause the taste of sweetness, from the sugars in fruit to sugar derivatives such as fructose and lactose. Sour is caused by acidic foods, the taste is caused by hydrogen ions that have split off by an acid in a watery solution1. Salty foods are mainly from table salt but other minerals can cause a salty flavor such as potassium and magnesium. Bitter tastes are some of the most easily recognizable because there are so many protein receptors designed to detect these tastes, mostly for an evolutionary reason since many poisonous plants taste bitter. The tongue has 8,000 taste buds that allow us to recognize the four tastes. Each taste bud is replaced about every two weeks, taste buds are not the bumps that we see on our tongue but they are actually under the bump and each taste bud is shaped

Cited: 1. "How Does Our Sense of Taste Work?" How Does Our Sense of Taste Work? U.S. National Library of Medicine, 01 June 2012. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. 2. O 'Callaghan, Jonny. "How Do Taste Buds Work?" How It Works Magazine. N.p., 28 Oct. 2011. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. 3. Menzel, Peter. "A Week of Groceries in Different Countries." Wall to Watch. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. 4. Rannals, Lee. "Where We Are Raised Defines Our Taste For Food." Food Preferences Vary By Region And Culture. N.p., 18 Apr. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.