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by im3w1l 459 days ago
Just because we struggle to verbalize something, doesn't mean that it cannot be verbalized. The taste of a specific dish can be broken down into its components. The basic tastes: how sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savory it is. The smell of it: there are are apparently ~400 olfactory receptor types in the nose. So you could describe how strongly each of them is activated. Thermoception, the temperature of the food itself, but also fake temperature sensation produced by capsaicin and menthol. The mechanoceptors play a part, detecting both the shape of the food as well as the texture of it. The texture also contributes to a sound sensation as we hear the cracks and pops when we chew. And that is just the static part of it. Food is actually an interactive experience, where all those impressions change over time and varies over time as the food is chewed.

It is highly complex, but it can all be described.