The Electricity
of Taste
The Electricity
of Taste
We know that taste is located on the tongue. In reality, our tongue distinguishes four tastes: sweet, salty, sour (acid) and bitter.
SWEET — The sweetness in food is tasted on the tip of the tongue by the taste buds or chemoreceptors.
SALTY — Saltiness in food is differentiated by the taste buds on the lateral aspect of the tongue next to the sweet zone.
SOUR or ACID — Sourness is felt on the posterior part of the tongue after the salty.
BITTER — Opposite to the sweet — bitterness is located at the root end of the tongue, where the large taste buds form a capital “V”. This is the reason why a cup of coffee with sugar tastes sweet on the tip of the tongue and bitter on the posterior part of the tongue.
There are ten thousand taste buds on our tongue. Each taste bud has an ovoid shape with nerve endings which look like microscopic hairs. The various foods (liquid and solid), mixed with saliva, make chemical contact with taste buds, producing an electric current which is transmitted to the brain. We must note that the taste buds do not function if the sugar or salt remains dry on the tongue. For taste to be felt, the food must be dissolved in the saliva in order to cause chemical contact with the nerve endings of taste buds.
Two thirds of the front part of the tongue transmit along the lingual nerve and the back third transmit along the glosso-pharyngeal nerve (and part of the vagus nerve). Along these nerves, electricity from the tongue is transmitted to the part of the brain which differentiates the tastes. This taste center is located near the center for smell. When we have a common cold, food has a different taste or does not taste good. On the other hand, when we taste wine we “drink” first with our nose (which enters first into the glass), before we taste it on the tongue. When I see a man drink a glass of whiskey or brandy in one swallow, immediately I make the diagnosis that he is ignorant and does not know how to appreciate the sense of taste.
It is commonly said: “the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” But a delicious meal will transmit electrically an abundance of taste to the brain, through the nerves of the tongue. It would be more correct to say, instead: “The quickest way to a man’s heart is through his tongue!”
Because of different tastes, man has a variety of food. Many races prefer spicy food. Spicy foods taste the way they do because they cause an intense reaction in the taste buds. Spiciness is actually the sensation of pain in the taste buds!
In the United States food has largely become processed, not only in its preservation, but also in its commercial preparation: canned, frozen, and dried foods, most having too much sugar and salt. There are 350 thousand restaurants in U.S. and the number of fast-food restaurants increases with the number of obese or fat people. Thirty percent of Americans 70 million — are over weight. This figure has increased to more than 50% of Americans that are obese (2001).
Obesity is the physical enemy of the electricity of love. Overeating is often a symptom of sexual starvation. Similarly, individuals who abuse alcohol sometimes do so to irrigate their sexual problems. Overdrinking is often simply a symptom of sexual thirst. Since the United States is the largest consumer of coffee and coca cola in the world, what are the effects of caffeine on the electricity of love? It accelerates our sympathetic nervous system and, as we will see later, this is bad for the electricity of love.
There are two types of kisses: a lip kiss and a taste-kiss. People say we should not argue about individual preferences in taste. But there is one thing on which we should agree: There is always electricity in a taste-kiss and the more humid or wetter the kiss, the more electricity the taste buds will generate! Why? Because the mouth is an important sexual organ!