Re: Good taste

En réponse à Peter Clark <peter-clark@...>:

>         So my wife was telling me that NPR (national public radio) had a
> report in
> which some scientist had identified another aspect of taste, apart from
> the
> usual sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. He called it "umami" (sp?) after
> the
> Japanese word for a meaty flavor (and also found in MSG). Then my wife
> remembered another Japanese taste word, "shibui", which she described as
> a
> dusty, puckery taste, usually at the back of the mouth. Would anyone
> care to
> comment on this?
Well, the French scientist Hervé This* (a former student of my school, and a
very interesting person I have the advantage of meeting :)) ) says that
the "four tastes" are an old but false myth. He has a battery of tests behind
him (which he did years ago) proving that the number of tastes recognised by
the tongue is much larger, and counts at least more than a dozen different
tastes (and I'm talking about tastes, not about flavours as recognised by the
nose). And the distribution of the taste sensors on the tongue is much more
complicated than one would expect with the maps usually given.

*He is well-known in France for having had a TV program with a cook, where he
was giving scientific explanations of well-known but ill-studied cooking
phenomena. He is mostly known for his "chocolat Chantilly", that he made to
prove to people that had said that it was impossible that you can easily make
whipped cream-like dishes without using cream, but with as different
ingredients as chocolate, foie gras or roquefort :)) (see http://b-
simon.ifrance.com/b-simon/rec6.htm, in French, but a good recipe. I saw Hervé
make it in front of me, so I can assure you it works :)) ).

 How does your conlang handle taste (since we just got
> done
> with a thread on color)?
A thing I never thought of before. Now it's something to repair :)) .

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.