ABSTRACT
You may have noticed that your food can seem rather flat and tasteless if you have a head cold. This is because a blocked nose can allow you to taste but not smell your food. Under normal circumstances food appreciation is based on both taste and smell, and less importantly, on other factors such as its temperature, texture, colour, and cultural acceptability (Clark and Dodge, 1955; Moskowitz, 1978). It is interesting that smell is important even in the perception of basic tastes such as sweet and salt. Mozell, Smith, Smith, Sullivan and Swender (1969) reported that subjects prevented from smelling had difficulty identifying a sugar (sucrose) and a salt (sodium chloride) solution, while Moskowitz claimed that a sugar solution was rated more pleasant tasting following the addition of an odorous substance such as vanilla.
