What Is Taste?

With bright, inviting photographs, this book offers an introduction to the sense of taste and to the fundamentals of empiricism. After a brief description of the five senses, the book addresses the relationship between taste and smell (“You taste with your tongue, but a lot of what you taste comes from your sense of smell.”), and the role of saliva in tasting. The four main kinds of taste are also identified. “What do you think?” text boxes help readers to internalize and express what they have read, and students are encouraged to build on their own experiences. Interesting facts—for example, some animals taste with other body parts (fish have taste buds on their skin!), and human babies have more taste buds than adults—are sprinkled throughout, and a taste-test experiment rounds out the book. Back matter includes suggestions for further reading, online resources, a glossary, and an index