Bud-free?
By Jolene Thym
Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 10:07 am in All You Can Eat.
I know. I admit it. I stand corrected. Eggs aren’t exactly health food. Wine isn’t a major food group. And I, sniffle, am not a super-taster. If you are laughing, stop now. At that lovely Tazo dinner I mentioned last week, I sat next to some young save-the-world non-foodie who likely considers Burger King a feast. She was lovely company, but what got me is that this woman could out-taste me without even trying.
During the blindfold dinner — yes, all guests dined blindfolded, start to finish – this upstart taster sniffed her cocktail and instantly says “gin.” “Not a chance,” I reply. It was gin. Minutes later, she nibbles her appetizer. “Orange,” she says quietly, not aware that I’m listening. ”Can’t be,” I think. Red tea, rose hips, something, anything but orange. Wrong again.
After stewing over my jealousy, I congratulated her and suggested she test herself to see if she’s a supertaster. I am hoping that she has the heart not to report to me the results because if she is not a supertaster, then I will have to admit that I have no tastebuds at all.
If you want to find out if you are a supertaster, you could try counting the number of tastebuds on your tongue. Or you could take this little test that I found in the pages of “You: On a Diet,” by doctors Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen (Oprah’s favorites.)
Mix one pack of saccharin (Sweet ‘N Low) into two-thirds of a cup of water. Taste the water. You’ll probably taste bitter and sweet, but which taste is stronger? If sweet is dominant, then you are likely an undertaster. If bitter is dominant, you may be a supertaster. If it’s a tie, then you’re like half of the population — a normal taster.
If it turns out that you ARE an undertaster, be happy. That means bad tasting food doesn’t taste nearly as revolting to you as it does to others.
[You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.]