First bite tastes great.
October 1, 2014 5:53 AM Subscribe
When eating/drinking, the first bite tastes great, but by the 3rd bite, everything seems to have lost its taste. Why is that ?
Background: I'm late 30s, a type-1 diabetic, take protonix for reflux, work out regularly, don't have any other known chronic conditions (no allergies). Stay hydrated throughout the day, eat a varied diet. I have 2-3 drinks a day with dinner (usually wine, sometimes beer).
Tongue tastes still work -- basic salty/sweet/bitter/sour flavors still come across, as does spicy/hot.
Background: I'm late 30s, a type-1 diabetic, take protonix for reflux, work out regularly, don't have any other known chronic conditions (no allergies). Stay hydrated throughout the day, eat a varied diet. I have 2-3 drinks a day with dinner (usually wine, sometimes beer).
Tongue tastes still work -- basic salty/sweet/bitter/sour flavors still come across, as does spicy/hot.
I have this too. A slice of chocolate cake is the most delicious thing ever at the first bite, but at the end, you could replace it with something else and I likely wouldn't notice. It still tastes of chocolate, but nowhere near as intensely.
I don't know why it happens, other than perhaps something to do with the newness of the sensation playing a factor? Like how you can lie still in a hot bath and not feel the heat, but as soon as you move, the water feels much hotter where it splashes on you. So far as I'm aware, I'm not diabetic.
posted by Solomon at 6:28 AM on October 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
I don't know why it happens, other than perhaps something to do with the newness of the sensation playing a factor? Like how you can lie still in a hot bath and not feel the heat, but as soon as you move, the water feels much hotter where it splashes on you. So far as I'm aware, I'm not diabetic.
posted by Solomon at 6:28 AM on October 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
What are you eating...?
One of my metrics for 'is this really good food' is 'does it still taste great even not at the ideal temperature'? Most processed food is pretty lousy when it's not piping hot or ice cold. But carefully prepared fresh stuff is still flavourful and palatable even when it's been sitting on your plate for a bit.
posted by kmennie at 6:32 AM on October 1, 2014
One of my metrics for 'is this really good food' is 'does it still taste great even not at the ideal temperature'? Most processed food is pretty lousy when it's not piping hot or ice cold. But carefully prepared fresh stuff is still flavourful and palatable even when it's been sitting on your plate for a bit.
posted by kmennie at 6:32 AM on October 1, 2014
Does this happen with, say, a varied dinner plate of food (e.g. pork chops, applesauce, potatoes, broccoli) or just with one-bowl kind of things (e.g. macaroni and cheese)? I've found that for some things, varying the flavor with other foods that keeps tastes bright, while with, say, a dish of ice cream, the flavor tends to go dull after a few bites. Tasting someone my wife's differently flavored ice cream in between brightens the flavor of mine when I go back to it.
posted by carrioncomfort at 6:41 AM on October 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by carrioncomfort at 6:41 AM on October 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
I think this is pretty common. Grant Achatz of Alinea was interviewed on Terry Gross a few years ago, and observed that one reason he serves the small portions of many foods is to maintain the surprise and delight of tasting something new. I think he said that five bites was the limit. Possibly this was completely made-up nonsense, but he sounded very authoritative!
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 7:37 AM on October 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 7:37 AM on October 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
Found the transcript!
"So there's something that we call the law of diminishing returns in our cooking. That's why the steak is only two ounces, because by your fifth bite you're really, you're done. You're done with that steak. You know what it's going to taste like. The actual flavor starts to deaden on the palate.
If we were to make you take 10 more bites, by the time you got to bite 15, the steak's just not that compelling anymore. So if we have a series of 23 small courses, where it's a burst of flavor on the palate, and then you move on to something completely different and then completely different, that helps us set up a more exciting meal, and it's something that is easier to kind of be compelled to go through a 23-course menu."
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 7:42 AM on October 1, 2014 [3 favorites]
"So there's something that we call the law of diminishing returns in our cooking. That's why the steak is only two ounces, because by your fifth bite you're really, you're done. You're done with that steak. You know what it's going to taste like. The actual flavor starts to deaden on the palate.
If we were to make you take 10 more bites, by the time you got to bite 15, the steak's just not that compelling anymore. So if we have a series of 23 small courses, where it's a burst of flavor on the palate, and then you move on to something completely different and then completely different, that helps us set up a more exciting meal, and it's something that is easier to kind of be compelled to go through a 23-course menu."
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 7:42 AM on October 1, 2014 [3 favorites]
Sense of taste is connected with sense of smell, which tires easily.
posted by brujita at 7:43 AM on October 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by brujita at 7:43 AM on October 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
My guess is you've encountered the gastronomical version of getting inured to the smell of your own perfume.
You haven't lost your sense of taste, you've lost your sense of smell which makes up a much larger portion of taste which btw is about 3/4 of it. When you chew food it releases odours that travel up the nasal passages to specialize nerve receptors that sense the "chocolate" in chocolate cake. The tongue can only sense the salty, sweet and bitter of it. As you get older your sense of smell becomes less sensitive and if you have allergies, get congested, smoke they can have an impact on your sense of taste too.
posted by redindiaink at 8:15 AM on October 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
You haven't lost your sense of taste, you've lost your sense of smell which makes up a much larger portion of taste which btw is about 3/4 of it. When you chew food it releases odours that travel up the nasal passages to specialize nerve receptors that sense the "chocolate" in chocolate cake. The tongue can only sense the salty, sweet and bitter of it. As you get older your sense of smell becomes less sensitive and if you have allergies, get congested, smoke they can have an impact on your sense of taste too.
posted by redindiaink at 8:15 AM on October 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
There is a concept called sensory adaptation which explains why some things are perceived more strongly at first, and then sort of fade out (sounds, tastes, temperature, etc.) as the specific sense gets used to it.
posted by CrazyLemonade at 9:30 AM on October 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by CrazyLemonade at 9:30 AM on October 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
You say that you're already drinking wine with dinner, but are you consciously alternating bite of food, sip of wine, bite of food, sip of wine? Because the wine helps wash off any fat that's coating your tongue so you can better taste the next bite.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:07 AM on October 1, 2014
posted by Jacqueline at 10:07 AM on October 1, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
When you say 'everything seems to have lost its taste,' do you mean that you literally can't taste anything at all?
posted by Quilford at 6:20 AM on October 1, 2014