My understanding is that smell is a major factor in how food taste. So does smelling your food and becoming nose blind to the smell while cooking negatively impact how it tastes?
Does the first bite of a meal make the rest of the bites taste blander? Whatever your answer is, the same is true for this question you’ve posed.
I’m baffled by how many people are saying they experience this. This has never been a problem for me. I thought conventional wisdom was that food tastes better when it’s your own cooking, and I’ve definitely found that to be true for me personally. Not that I’m an amazing cook but I think the cooking process helps me appreciate what has gone into the food and makes it appear better.
100% agree. If I’m cooking a sauce, stew, or curry for a long time i much prefer to eat it the day after
I never would’ve thought this was a thing. To be fair, I don’t get the “smell is a major factor in food taste” at all. I can taste things just as well with my nose plugged as I can without. (Possibly because allergies meant childhood me could rarely ever smell much at all)
Anyway this is fascinating, and I wonder if animals with even stronger senses of smell are fine with bland food because they get nose blind faster so basically all food is bland. Or, do they rely primarily on smell to the point that taste from the tongue just doesn’t really influence full taste as much as smell?
I have never experienced this as a problem. However one does learn to compensate for differences between the eating experience and the tasting-while-cooking experience.
For example, when it comes to heat (chili heat), I’m cautious, knowing that what is tolerable for a taste, may not be tolerable for a whole meal since the heat tends to build as you eat. I also adjust for my audience’s taste, for example if I think they can take less heat then I can, or like things less salty.
I also adjust for my audience’s taste, for example if I think they can take less heat then I can, or like things less salty.
I’d like to apply for an audience, if i may
Get in line!
Yes, smelling food while cooking can make it taste more bland when you finally sit down to eat.
Yeah, the longer it takes to cook the more I dislike it even if everyone else is raving. It’s one of the several reasons I like to can things. Canning takes awhile, but then later on I can pop open a jar and my brain has forgotten the exhaustion and only goes “oooo homemade food in seconds!!!”
Yup. Cleaning and prepping a bunch of leek and two dozens carrots, then making apple pie from scratch, for a nice dinner every night? No way. Spending two weekends canning each season, then eating lovely food all year round? Bliss.
Basic cheese melt when I don’t feel like cooking? Depressing. Cheese melt with fermented squash, pickled red onions, and my neighbor’s cured wild boar ham? Luxury.
After preparing the meal, step outside for five minutes. Come back in, eat. Food will taste closer to having it prepared for you.
Now I want to wear nose plugs when I cook and see if it tastes better.
My mate reckons that while cooking you’re being so exposed to the food that the usual dopamine release from eating is somewhat blunted by the whole process.
I totally agree with this. I prefer to cook for others because the process of serving it out gives a cooldown from standing over the oven and inhaling the food, and so i usually enjoy it more.
Me, too, but I never thought of it like that!
Yeah if I’m cooking for myself it’s over too quickly and i have less appetite
God damn. I have never thought about this before but you might be on to something.
It does for me. Especially when it’s a long cooking session like during the Holidays.
The food I cook still tastes good but it seems like it has less flavor than if I hadn’t cooked it myself.
To me, looking is a major factor, smell is a plus
No.
That doesn’t happen to me, but I cook for my family every day, usually just once. (So not so infrequently It’s something unusual, but not so often it’s a drag). It’s more like an appetizer or something.
