How Do We Taste? I Gustation?

We taste food because special parts on our tongue send messages to our brain, telling it what flavors we're eating.

Taste buds are like tiny helpers on your tongue, they’re found in little bumps called papillae, which you can feel if you run your tongue over the top of your mouth. These taste buds catch onto food and start working.

When you eat something, like a strawberry, the flavor chemicals in it jump onto your taste buds. Each taste bud has many little taste cells, which are like tiny detectives looking for clues about what kind of flavor they’re tasting, sweet, salty, sour, bitter, or umami (which is the “meaty” flavor you get from foods like cheese or mushrooms).

These taste cells send messages through wires in your body to your brain. Your brain gets all the clues and says, "Oh, that's a strawberry!", and suddenly, you're enjoying it!

It’s like when you smell something delicious, but even better because it happens right on your tongue!