Why is food so bland when you’re sick?  

Here’s what your tongue actually does. It detects just five basic tastes.
That’s it, and the receptors are all over the place. Any part of your tongue tastes everything

Now that we know that the tongue detects only five tastes (maybe 6?), we should clarify that taste and flavour are not the same. Not even close.

Almost all of what we call flavour is actually coming from our sense of smell. It happens through this backdoor pathway. Aromas go from your throat up to your nose as you chew.

You can actually test this yourself right now. All you need is a jelly bean. 
Let’s try it!

1. Pinch your nose shut really tight
2. Pop the jelly bean in and chew. What do you taste?
3. Now let go of your nose. Whoa, right? A sudden explosion of flavour. So what just happened there? The second you let go, all those aromas rushed up to your nose

That’s when your brain got the full picture. Here’s a great way to think about it. Believe it or not, chocolate flavour can come from this event, and this consideration brings us back to the start.

When you have a cold, that pathway is blocked. No smell, no flavour. It’s a small glimpse into what it’s like for people who have smell disorders.

A big deal, right? So it makes you think, the next time you eat something,
are you tasting it? Or are you just smelling it?