Babies eat everything that does not cause pain, but by about 3 years of age, aversion and disgust kicks in and they begin to know what to avoid.But taste is more than just taste. How you think about food or drink affects how you judge it. So for ‘Perrier’ water, to appreciate its great taste you have to know that it is ‘Perrier’. This applies to many food or drink items and failure to recognize your favourite foods and drink in a blind test is not being dishonest or confused.

Studies find that-

• Orange juice tastes better if it is a bright orange.
• Yoghurt and ice-cream are perceived as more flavourful if described as “full fat” or “high fat”.
• Coke is rated higher when drunk from a cup with a brand logo.
• Children accustomed to going to McDonald’s, think milk and apples taste better if they are taken out from McDonald’s
• Wine is perceived, even by experts, as being of better quality and tasting better when it comes with a fancy lable. When drinking from a black glass many even failed to distinguish red wine from white.
• People could not reliably distinguish ground up dog food garnished with parsely, from spam, or liverwurst, or duck liver mousse, or pork liver pate.

So there is really something more to taste than just that which is based on the physical properties of what is tasted in the mouth. The nose (smell) and eyes (looks) are very important in determining the experience of taste. Ask someone to put different items with the similar texture into your mouth without telling you what it is and with your eyes closed and nose clipped shut and you will soon

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