A Loss of Taste
If you were to lose one of your five basic tastes -- sour, sweet, salty, bitter or umami -- and would never be able to taste that "taste" again, which one would you choose to lose?
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16 Comments:
I could definitely live without sour.
jonfoxx at 11:01AM on 12/10/07
bitter! There has never been a time where i have said to myself: "gee i could go for something bitter right about now."
steakpuff at 11:07AM on 12/10/07
I could certainly live without better too. For some reason, I am super-sensitive to bitter foods, and can detect bitterness when other people (e.g. hubby) don't, so I would be actually glad to never be able to taste that "taste" again!
brooke29 at 11:23AM on 12/10/07
Sweet. Maybe then I'd lose some extra pounds ; )
StudentStomach at 12:16PM on 12/10/07
Ha! Good call, StudentStomach. :)
I guess I'd have to go with bitter, too, if pressed to choose. Although I have to wonder how the loss of that taste would affect the others. Like, the underlying bitterness of a food cuts what would normally be overwhelming sweetness, so then you're stuck with an overly sweet food that you don't like anymore. Hmm...
sheeats at 12:23PM on 12/10/07
I'm not a big sweets person, but don't think I'd want to lose it entirely. Too important for flavor balances. And I'm a real lover of salty and sour.
I guess it would be umami. Or possibly bitter, even though I do love so many things in that category (grapefruit, cranberries, coffee, dark chocolate... lots of good stuff).
Tough call.
LoCo at 12:32PM on 12/10/07
Bitter, no question....I am not a bitter greens fan!
sugarstack at 1:22PM on 12/10/07
Sour. I hate that feeling.
Christina at 2:09PM on 12/10/07
I'd choose to lose umami
JEP at 2:14PM on 12/10/07
What the hell is umami?
Elizabelle at 2:55PM on 12/10/07
umami
I could NOT live without umami...
lo82070 at 6:13PM on 12/10/07
I would be fine without bitter. If umami is a recognized taste, there should probably be a similar category for chocolate. Now THAT I would not want to lose.
kmnola at 7:13PM on 12/10/07
I think it would be umami. You need sweet and salty - and I can't get rid of bitter because of coffee and tea. Add life without lemons, I don't know half of what I would cook.
Littlebluesiren at 7:29PM on 12/10/07
I would have to say bitter. Although I'd probably go nuts without coffee. But I luuurve my sweets, can't live without salt and have to have sour and umami.
jenneke at 1:52AM on 12/11/07
bitter
bessfour at 11:01AM on 12/11/07
Hmmm...I'm going to go with sour, even though I used to love those warheads! :) But all the other tastes are sooo much better.
Great question!
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 12:48PM on 12/11/07