That's really interesting. That suggests that taste may be a calibrated sense, where signals come from multiple sensors and are 'gathered' into the final perception. Probably some of your taste buds and olfactory sensors are less sensitive after covid, or may even respond differently, producing a different mix of signals. To return to normal, I suspect the lagging sensors will need to fully revive.
I wonder if there's a way to retrain sensory organs, to shape your perception of flavor, perhaps the way that oenophiles teach someone to taste wine more sensitively and meaningfully. Can one learn to deconvolute the the signals of taste?
I believe my kids have a similar situation. They have been really picky with food since COVID. We actually talked to a paediatrician (is that what they are called?) about it. He said it seemed to be very common right now.
Also suggested that we should try to give the kids lots of different tastes, textures, temperatures etc. I guess to “train” the sense again? I don’t know. Seems a bit unscientific. But who knows.
You may be onto something. After I had COVID and recovered my sense of smell, I found things didn't smell or taste exactly the same as before. Drinks, especially coffee, doesn't smell exactly the same as before, for example. And I had COVID almost a year ago, so it's not like I recovered yesterday.
Not to worry you, but like I said in the sibling comment, it's been almost a year and while I recovered my sense of smell and taste, it's not exactly the same as before COVID.
I wonder if there's a way to retrain sensory organs, to shape your perception of flavor, perhaps the way that oenophiles teach someone to taste wine more sensitively and meaningfully. Can one learn to deconvolute the the signals of taste?