Acquired Taste

David Gregory & Debbie Marshall. CC BY 4.0.

The hundreds of visible bumps that cover your tongue are not, in fact, taste buds — they’re papillae like this “fungiform papilla,” seen above. Their job, along with other types of papillae, is to sense touch and taste — in this case, like feeling the texture of a crispy cookie and tasting its sweet flavor in your mouth.

Before you can satisfy your cookie craving, a sugary molecule must first fall into a taste bud through a small opening on the fungiform papilla, seen here in the very center. Inside, dozens of so-called “gustatory” cells recognize it. Gustatory cells matching the molecule’s type — sweet, salty, sour, bitter, or the savory umami flavor — activate and send the signal along, so you experience the right taste.

About the Author

Charlie Wood

Charlie Wood is a science writer with a bachelor’s degree in physics from Brown University and a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In previous lives he taught physics in Mozambique and English in Japan, but these days he freelances from his home in New York.