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Drugs can alter taste. I've had experience with cancer patients, and a side effect of the treament is that food starts to taste differently. Would not be surprised if the drug+treatment combo of traumatic surgery might result in something similar in some percentage of the patients.

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But this doesn't seem to be just "taste changed", but literally "taste changed to what the donor had", that's a bit different, at least in my mind.

Again, not claiming "memory sits in the heart", just that it wouldn't be surprising if there was more to it than just in the brain itself.