Close your eyes. What can you hear? What can you smell? Your body has five ways to find out about the world. We call them the five senses.
Key idea
We see with our eyes, hear with our ears, smell with our nose, taste with our tongue and feel with our skin.
Why it works
Each sense sends messages to your brain. Your brain puts them together. When you eat, your tongue tastes sweet, salty, sour or bitter, and your nose smells the food at the same time. Together they make the flavor.
Worked example: Let's think it through
Your nose is stuffed up from a cold. Why does your food taste flat?
- When you chew, smells from the food rise up into your nose.
- A stuffed nose blocks them.
- Without the smells, food has much less flavor.
Answer: Your nose helps you taste, and it is blocked.
Common mistake
Many children think we taste only with the tongue. The nose does much of the work. That is why food tastes flat when a cold blocks your nose.
For the grown-up. Try the flavor test: hold your nose and eat a small piece of apple, then let go and take another bite. Many children are amazed at the difference.