COVID affecting taste of food.

October 9, 2023 9:46 AM

Have anybody here experienced food tasting differently, after getting COVID?

I am recovering from it now and am COVID negative, but the food still tastes off. It's getting better, but slowly. I did not experience loss of smell. Thanks.

posted by Czjewel to Health & Fitness (19 answers total)

Pretty common in folks in my family.
posted by creiszhanson at 9:55 AM on October 9, 2023 [4 favorites]

Yes, my partner couldn't abide raw lamb and chicken smells and hoppy beers tasted soapy. It gets better, but took a long time.
posted by k3ninho at 9:56 AM on October 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

Yes. Root vegetables such as carrots and radishes tasted like dirt to me for several months after getting covid. It got better.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 9:57 AM on October 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

Very common. Lost mine for about three weeks in January and minty things, including my toothpaste, still taste off.
posted by cooker girl at 9:59 AM on October 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

If it lasts longer than a few weeks and/or is acute enough to significantly affect your eating patterns, consider talking to your doctor. A family friend struggled with months of post-covid taste issues that caused him to lose well over 10% of his bodyweight, at which point he was referred for taste re-training. It sounds like that improved things about 80%, though certain things still seem "off" to him. (If you're US-based, I believe this was covered by insurance as a form of occupational therapy.)
posted by LadyInWaiting at 10:17 AM on October 9, 2023 [7 favorites]

Yes, this has been common among people I know, sometimes resolving quickly, sometimes it's ongoing months later.
posted by Stacey at 10:30 AM on October 9, 2023

Just for two, maybe three days.
posted by Stoneshop at 10:33 AM on October 9, 2023

Yes. Salt tasted wrong for a few days. Like everyone was suddenly using one of those terrible salt substitutes.
posted by Hatashran at 10:47 AM on October 9, 2023

Yes. food with salt tasted too salty, or maybe the flavor of salt changed. I couldn't tell. This lasted for a few weeks.
posted by bluesky43 at 10:49 AM on October 9, 2023

Very common. My partner says that all citrus tastes different.
posted by knapah at 11:18 AM on October 9, 2023

Yes. (Long-term changes may be due to damaged taste buds - COVID-19 virus receptors are present on taste bud receptor cells.) There are suggestions for post-Covid olfactory retraining, and I wonder if something exists for gustatory retraining.
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:37 AM on October 9, 2023 [2 favorites]

Didn't preview - retraining via occupational therapy as in LadyinWaiting's answer!
In recent news, stellate ganglion block (local anesthetic injection) improved taste and smell.
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:53 AM on October 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

Last month, the fact I made Nigerian stew and it didn't taste of anything is what nudged me to take a covid test (positive) after a having a mild cold for a week. Food is dull and has no nuance. I was hardly even ill.
posted by glasseyes at 3:45 PM on October 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

On top of all that, if you took Paxlovid it has a pretty serious effect on taste. Mine lasted a few days after I stopped taking it.
posted by mmoncur at 4:18 PM on October 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

Dietitian and post-COVID taste change haver here; yep! Parosmia is becoming a known knock-on effect after testing positive for COVID. Studies are ongoing.

I got COVID in early August for the first time and just noticed the taste changes a few weeks ago, about 4-6 weeks after infection. For me, it's similar to but not as severe as how I've described dysgeusia to chemo/radiation patients -- a persistent metallic taste that makes some foods unpleasant. My favorite kale tasted awful, and drinking out of cans or metal tumblers is not great. Typical recommendation is to use citrus to combat the metallic taste; I've had poor luck with my go-to combo of kale and lemon, tasted like actual dirt, which made me quite sad. I'd REALLY been looking forward to some dino kale. Alas. Experimentation ongoing here; great recs above for solutions.
posted by OhHaieThere at 6:43 PM on October 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

Yes. For me, it was my sense of taste being about 50% of normal for a week (started 3 days after symptom onset), and about 8 days of a constant metallic taste in my mouth. Eventually (over another week) it faded and my sense of taste was 100% again. My sense of smell was weird/faint for about 2 weeks as well.
posted by Chalks-n-Locks at 8:06 PM on October 9, 2023

I'm almost two years out from having covid. Initially I lost my sense of smell and taste completely for more then eight months. After that many foods tasted horrible for more months. I still can't bear the taste of eggs but I don't exactly know how to describe what seems off about them.
posted by jpziller at 6:00 AM on October 10, 2023

It didn't for me, but I know a lot of people that found certain foods they previously enjoyed tasted off after having Covid. In particular, several friends mentioned citrus fruits and greens tasting very different and sometimes metallic or off-putting.
posted by Kurichina at 9:01 AM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

I personally have not experienced that but my relatives reported being grossed out by certain food, mostly by eggs, for at least a year.
posted by Salicornia at 2:40 AM on October 11, 2023