The Tongue

[Read for Fall 2026]

Modified: 2026-08-29 2:30 PM CDST

• The tongue (on the diagram 1 = bitter, 2 = sour, 3 = salty, and 4 = sweet) contains receptors called taste buds that transduce chemicals dissolved in saliva into neural impulses.
  • You should realize that taste as described here is not the same as eating.
  • When we eat, we smell, taste, see, and feel our food.
  • Eating is a multisensorial experience. However, here we will consider only the experience of tasting.
    • The multifactorial aspects of eating are described on another page in this chapter.
• Interestingly, some people are much more able to taste bitter sensations.
  • Those who dislike diet soft drinks usually say they do not like them because they leave a bitter aftertaste.
  • Some people are not able to taste that bitter sensation.
  • Also, most poisons are bitter.
    • So, it may make evolutionary sense for people to dislike bitter tastes.
  • In fact, growers have developed strains of celery that are not bitter for that reason, much to the dismay of some gourmands Raymond Sokolov, for instance.
• Umami is a taste sensation first described in the 1980s and is described as "flavorful."
  • The sensation caused by parmesan cheese is a good example