Understand the Difference Between Taste and Flavor

They often seem like synonyms, but they’re not—each has its own particularities and different functions.

September 2019 – The definitions of taste and flavor are often used to explain the sensation on the palate after eating a food. They may often seem like synonyms, but they’re not, since each has its own particularities and different functions. To help with identification, the Umami Committee has prepared a “guide” to make it easier to define what is taste and what is flavor. Check it out below.

What is taste?

Sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami. These are the five—and only—tastes the human palate can identify. And from this information we can define the sensation we experience when ingesting a food. Each of them is identified by receptors located in the taste buds which, upon detecting the taste, send the information to the brain.

What is flavor?

According to a publication in the British journal Nature, Berry Smith, a professor at the School of Advanced Study in London, explains that flavor, to be defined, involves several details. “It is the result of the multisensory integration of smell, touch, and taste. In addition, external situations can be decisive for the perception of flavors, such as mood, sounds, and even the lighting of the environment.” Meanwhile, Stuart Firestein, a specialist at Columbia University in the United States, in a video published by the American site Big Think, notes that the temperature and consistency of foods are also fundamental. “You do not enjoy a food that is slick or slippery when your expectation of it is not that.”

How to tell taste and flavor apart in a few minutes

Do the following test to understand the difference between the two concepts:

• Take a piece of candy;
• Pinch your nose closed;
• Put the candy in your mouth and keep your nose pinched;
• Chew the candy for a few seconds;
• Then release your nose.

At first, with your nose pinched, you can only perceive the sweet taste. When you release it, you can perceive the candy’s flavor (strawberry, grape, mint, among others), since there is interaction between taste and smell.

UMAMI
It is the fifth basic taste of the human palate, discovered in 1908 by Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda. It was scientifically recognized in 2000, when researchers at the University of Miami confirmed the existence of specific receptors for this taste in the taste buds. The amino acid glutamic acid and the nucleotides inosinate and guanylate are the main umami substances. The two main characteristics of umami are increased salivation and the persistence of taste for a few minutes after ingestion. To learn more, visit www.portalumami.com.br.