I Can't Taste!

If you couldn't taste your food, what would you eat? Would you even want to? Taste disorders are rare, but they can have devastating impacts on people's lives. They can also tell us a lot about our food.

Emily Thomas meets a cookery writer who says she wanted to die after a car accident robbed her of taste. But as the sense slowly returned she became a more experimental cook.

Discuss:

What would it be like to have no sense of taste? How would affect your life?

Which foods might still hold some attraction for you? Why?

Cheese

Carrots

Muesli

Nuts

Chili peppers

Yogurt

Chocolate

Pancakes

Tomato soup

Steamed dumplings

Ice cream

Lemon

Bread

Eggs

If I lost my sense of taste, I'd eat a lot of...   ...because...

Listen from 17:30 to the end:

I Can't Taste!

Discuss:

What would it be like to have no sense of taste? How would affect your life?

Listen from 17:30 to the end:

The ____ thing I knew

At _____ point did you realise

It just tasted ____

I ____ excuses

When did you ____ conformation

We'll just have to ____

Q: What could Marlena smell?

It _____ a bit frivolous

My career _____ to a halt

Q: What did she have jettison?

it ______ my mind up

Q: What did Marlena learn about food?

I _____ a dab of chili oil

I know it ______ bizarre

According to Professor Barry Smith,

1.  What should do if you have a disrupted sense of taste?

2. How is smell training similar to learning to appreciate classical music?

2.  Why is your sense of smell so important?

3.  Why does spicy food not damage your taste buds?

 

Words we use to describe the taste, aroma, sensation, texture, appearance and even sounds of food and drink:

 

Tangy _______

Delicate ________
acrid ________
moist _______
crackling ________

Crumbly ________
bubbly ________

Doughy ________

Fizzy ________
bland ________
frothy ________
gooey _______

aftertaste of ________
foretaste of ________
gleaming _________
steaming _________
piping-hot ________
spongy ________
slimy __________
juicy ________

lemony _________

gingery _______

crunchy ________

metallic _________

nutty_________

refreshing ________
crispy ________

greasy ________
salty ________

sticky ________
more-ish ________

 

Practise some of these here

Try using these words to describe the following sweet treats to alien from another galaxy who has never tried them.

think about texture, sweetness, flavours, smell, temperature, consistency, density, sensations while you are eating or drinking it, contrasting sensations or tastes, how it feels in your belly...  


A Snickers bar
Cheese cake

Apple pie and hokey-pokey ice-cream
Cocacola
Ginger beer
Hot chocolate

1.Do you drink wine?

2. How can you tell good from bad?

3. What is a "dry" wine like?

4. What is a "robust" wine like?

5. What about light-bodied?

6. Full-bodied?

7. Earthy?

8. Velvety?

9. Balanced?

10. Oaky?

Pre-learn vocab

Watch:

Adam Ruins Wine

True or false?

1. Wine experts cannot mistake red wine and white wine - even if the white wine is dyed red.

2. The study of wine experts was carried out bv a university.

3. All wine tastes pretty much the same.

Pronunciation focus - word stress

Which stress pattern is more likely?

WINE list / wine LIST

HOW am i supPOSED to CHOOSE? / how AM i SUPposed TO choose

DEfer / deFER

FIT to drink / FIT to DRINK

a BOTtle of KETCHup / a BOTle of ketchUP

SUPerNATural POWers  / superNATural powers

PREGnant / pregNANT

i BEG to DIFfer  / I beg to difFER

Listen and check

Continue listening and just NOTICE how these phrases are stressed:

INcredibly REfined  /  inCREDibly reFINED

UNsuSPECTing  /  unSUSpecting

CHEAP TAble wine / cheap table WINE

 i SHALL be REturning  /  i shall be reTURNing 

pretty much WHAT you'd exPECT  / PRETy MUCH what YOU'D expect

ALL wine is TERrible / all WINE is TERrible

TOTally subJECTive  / totALly SUBjective

peaNUTbutter and SARDines / PEAnutbutter and sarDINES

it DOESn't MATter  /  IT doesn't MATter

OBjective TRUTH / obJECTive TRUTH

acCESSible / ACcesible

TASTy FERmented GRAPES /  TASTy ferMENTed GRAPES

Some people find this activity very helpful in attuning their ear and for reinforcing their active vocabulary. Listen over again and try to hear these stress patterns:

WINE list

HOW am i supPOSED to CHOOSE?

ARE you SURE?

deFER

SO-called

FIT to DRINK

CHEAP SWILL

a BOTtle of KETCHup

SUPerNATural POWers of WINE disCERNment

NINEteen THIRTy-FOUR

PREGnant

CAN"T tell the DIFference EITHer

i BEG to DIFfer

inCREDibly reFINED

OTHerwise

UNsuSPECTing

JUICy and roBUST

vaNILla and OAK

the SAME WINE

NONE of the parTIcipants could TELL

exPENSive GRAND CRU

CHEAP TAble wine

i shall be reTURNing

pretty much WHAT you'd exPECT

Even NOticed

YOU'VE conVINCED me

ALL wine is TERrible

TOTally subJECTive

PEAnutbutter and sarDINES

it DOESn't MATter

obJECTive TRUTH

HIGH CLASS ITem

acCESSible

TASTy ferMENTed GRAPES