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The Tongue Map
Status: Urban Legend
One of the many catalogs I receive is the Wine Enthusiast. On the inside cover of the catalog I received last week is a description of Symphony Stemware wine glasses which are supposedly "designed and shaped to enhance the best characteristics of every wine." Accompanying this claim is a map of the tongue with the following caption:"The specially designed shape of each glass directs the flow of wine to the proper areas of your palate, emphasizing a wine's best qualities and creating a balanced taste for maximum enjoyment."
Symphony isn't the only company to use a tongue map to promote their glasses. Riedel uses the same gimmick in their marketing. The thing is, from what I understand, the tongue map is a completely bogus idea. The tongue is not divided into taste regions. And even if it were, no glass is going to be able to direct flavors to one specific area of the tongue.
An article from the August 2004 issue of Gourmet magazine ("Shattered Myths" by Daniel Zwerdling... I can't find a link to it), tackled the tongue-map myth at some length and thoroughly debunked it:
"The tongue map? That old saw?" scoffs Linda Bartoshuk when I reach her at her laboratory at the Yale Univerity School of Medicine. Bartoshuk has done landmark studies on how people taste. "No, no. There isn't any 'tongue map.'"
Wait a minute: When you sip Pinot Noir from the correct Riedel glass, won't it maximize the fruit flavors by rushing the wine to the "sweet" zone on the tip of your tongue? When you serve a Chardonnay with too much fruit, won't the correct glass balance the flavors by directing the wine to the "acid" spots near the middle? "Nope," Bartoshuk laughs. "It's wrong." She and other scientists have proved that you can taste salty, sweet, and bitter everywhere on the tongue where there are taste buds. "Your brain doesn't care where taste is coming from in your mouth," Bartoshuk says. "And researchers have known this for thirty years."
The Wikipedia article on taste buds also debunks the idea of the tongue map: "Contrary to popular understanding, taste is not experienced on different parts of the tongue. The 'tongue map myth' was based on a mistranslation of a German paper that was written in 1901 by a Harvard psychologist. Though there are small differences in sensation, which can be measured with highly specific instruments, all taste buds can respond to all types of taste."
Posted By: Alex | Date: Sun Feb 26, 2006 | Permalink |
Total Comments: 29
Category: Food, Urban Legends
Category: Food, Urban Legends
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
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Also, tongues generally are not that multicolored or triangular.
Posted by eriC draveS in Over here somewhere on Sun Feb 26, 2006 at 04:29 PM
Wow, the all my science books for kids are wrong. I have like eight books with a tongue map in them.
Posted by Dracul on Sun Feb 26, 2006 at 04:59 PM
I specifically remember being taught about the "tongue map" in Kindergarten. I thought it was dumb then because I tried the simple test of sticking the tip of my tongue in to baking chocolate powder. 
Of course that was before I started going to private school. (Blame LBUSD, I guess.)
Posted by Kelly in Belmont Shore CA on Sun Feb 26, 2006 at 05:09 PM
Of course that was before I started going to private school. (Blame LBUSD, I guess.)
Anyone who's ever eaten should know the tongue map is wrong...
Posted by Citizen Premier in spite of public outcry on Sun Feb 26, 2006 at 09:42 PM
I remember being taught about the tongue map in elementary school, so it's not just one public school district to blame!
Posted by thephrog in CA USA on Sun Feb 26, 2006 at 10:17 PM
darn government approved textbooks!~
Posted by thephrog in CA USA on Sun Feb 26, 2006 at 10:18 PM
Actually, I vaguely remember learning this in primary school, too. So it's a world-wide hoax!
Posted by Smerk in to mischief on Sun Feb 26, 2006 at 10:55 PM
I typed this out last night then hit "submit" and it disappeared 
so, I will try again.
On the Food Network show "Unwrapped" (admittedly not the most scientific of sources), they were explaining why chili peppers are hot. The idiots explanation (the ones I understand best), basically compared taste buds to locks and different tastes to keys, each key or flavor unlocking a specific lock or taste bud. Now, they did not say anything about a "tongue map" or even that specific areas of the tongue were for specific flavors, only what I said above.
They then went to explain that the compound that gives chili's their fire, "capsaicin", was best compared to a lockpick as in that it could fit into all locks (taste buds). This sounds logical enough to me but the last sentence in the article makes me doubt it's validity.
"Though there are small differences in sensation, which can be measured with highly specific instruments, all taste buds can respond to all types of taste."
damnit, if you can't trust the Food Network, who can you trust?
Posted by Chuck in Rhode Island on Mon Feb 27, 2006 at 03:42 AM
so, I will try again.On the Food Network show "Unwrapped" (admittedly not the most scientific of sources), they were explaining why chili peppers are hot. The idiots explanation (the ones I understand best), basically compared taste buds to locks and different tastes to keys, each key or flavor unlocking a specific lock or taste bud. Now, they did not say anything about a "tongue map" or even that specific areas of the tongue were for specific flavors, only what I said above.
They then went to explain that the compound that gives chili's their fire, "capsaicin", was best compared to a lockpick as in that it could fit into all locks (taste buds). This sounds logical enough to me but the last sentence in the article makes me doubt it's validity.
"Though there are small differences in sensation, which can be measured with highly specific instruments, all taste buds can respond to all types of taste."
damnit, if you can't trust the Food Network, who can you trust?
Aww man, I thought I had found out all the myths perpetuated on me since I was a kid, but this one has slipped through till now.
I had to do an assignment on the tongue map for science class, we all had different soltuions(salty, sweet) and swabs and had to measure everybodies ability in class for detection, correlate stats etc.
Come to think of it, we did get meaningful results too. Did we fool ourselves that much just to pass?
Posted by AussieBruce on Mon Feb 27, 2006 at 06:13 AM
I had to do an assignment on the tongue map for science class, we all had different soltuions(salty, sweet) and swabs and had to measure everybodies ability in class for detection, correlate stats etc.
Come to think of it, we did get meaningful results too. Did we fool ourselves that much just to pass?
NB: There's an HTML error in Miniskirt's posting which is messing up the rest of the comments page.
More to the topic: I'd love to see better cites about the debunking and the research. What if the debunking isn't reliable? If we just accept that one quote, we're as bad as folks who credulously accept any other info-bite.
Posted by cvirtue in deleted on Mon Feb 27, 2006 at 07:04 AM
More to the topic: I'd love to see better cites about the debunking and the research. What if the debunking isn't reliable? If we just accept that one quote, we're as bad as folks who credulously accept any other info-bite.
Mini Skirt's posts have been removed because he's just spamming anyway.
Posted by Charybdis in Hell on Mon Feb 27, 2006 at 07:55 AM
I agree that using just one source to debunk a myth is as bad as believing it. But, now that I know to look for it, there seems to be many varied sources of information about it. And they mainly say something similar:- that while some areas may have a slight increase in sensitivity, all taste buds can sense all tastes.
Shall we get onto MSG being the 5th taste sense, or just accept that was just an MSG promotion?
Posted by AussieBruce on Mon Feb 27, 2006 at 08:09 AM
Shall we get onto MSG being the 5th taste sense, or just accept that was just an MSG promotion?
I must be old because I've never heard of this. So according to the tougue map, what part sticks to a frozen sign post?
Posted by Captain Al in Alberta, Canada on Mon Feb 27, 2006 at 10:48 AM
I don't know. Sometimes when I eat candy (like a lollipop), it seems to taste different on the left side of the tongue than on the right. I'm not entirely convinced.
Posted by Sakano in Ohio on Mon Feb 27, 2006 at 11:24 AM
Sakano Said: "I don't know. Sometimes when I eat candy (like a lollipop), it seems to taste different on the left side of the tongue than on the right. I'm not entirely convinced."
Me too, with me its taste dulls a little bit on my right side. It does it with popsicles too.
I hate it.
Posted by Carter S on Mon Feb 27, 2006 at 01:19 PM
Me too, with me its taste dulls a little bit on my right side. It does it with popsicles too.
I hate it.
I seem to remember something about not being able to taste some things if you hold your nose while eating. I wonder if some wine glasses are better at directing the contents' bouquet than others, thereby making you think you are tasting a difference.
Posted by Blondin on Mon Feb 27, 2006 at 01:19 PM
I, too, remember the tongue maps from grade-school health and science books.
However, even if it were true that different parts of the tongue are capable of tasting different flavors, that's still a ridiculous argument for a certain shape of wine glass. No matter what kind of glass (or Mason jar or whatever) you drink from, the wine goes all over your mouth and tongue if you're drinking halfway normally. Doesn't it?
More traditional arguments for certain shapes of wine glasses have to do with things like how much air the wine is exposed to, how fast the carbonation escapes (from sparkling wines), how much the drink gets warmed in the hand (commonly used for brandy snifters), etc., not what happens after you get the wine out of the glass and into your mouth.
I prefer jelly glasses, myself.
Posted by Big Gary on a biology expedition in Dallas, Texas, USA on Mon Feb 27, 2006 at 01:55 PM
However, even if it were true that different parts of the tongue are capable of tasting different flavors, that's still a ridiculous argument for a certain shape of wine glass. No matter what kind of glass (or Mason jar or whatever) you drink from, the wine goes all over your mouth and tongue if you're drinking halfway normally. Doesn't it?
More traditional arguments for certain shapes of wine glasses have to do with things like how much air the wine is exposed to, how fast the carbonation escapes (from sparkling wines), how much the drink gets warmed in the hand (commonly used for brandy snifters), etc., not what happens after you get the wine out of the glass and into your mouth.
I prefer jelly glasses, myself.
Well, these special glasses have certainly improved MY experience of wine, I can say that much. I used to only be able to pour wine into my ear, and now it goes into my mouth!
Posted by cvirtue in deleted on Mon Feb 27, 2006 at 02:30 PM
I had some time to Google and chase references.
While waiting for the kids to go to sleep, I found more about the tongue issue, should you be interested. I think it's fascinating.
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news84.html
NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS NEWSLETTER by the University of Washington. The Book Reviews section covers the tongue map myth.
http://www.uniklinik-saarland.de/med_fak/physiol1/LDM/chemotopic_1.htm
Collection of References Regarding the Chemotopic Organization of Taste -- summary with many citations.
http://www.aromadictionary.com/articles/tonguemap_article.html
Summary of paper from 1974 with the new info, and how the misunderstanding occurred, with images from the 1901 paper.
Posted by cvirtue on Mon Feb 27, 2006 at 05:44 PM
While waiting for the kids to go to sleep, I found more about the tongue issue, should you be interested. I think it's fascinating.
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news84.html
NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS NEWSLETTER by the University of Washington. The Book Reviews section covers the tongue map myth.
http://www.uniklinik-saarland.de/med_fak/physiol1/LDM/chemotopic_1.htm
Collection of References Regarding the Chemotopic Organization of Taste -- summary with many citations.
http://www.aromadictionary.com/articles/tonguemap_article.html
Summary of paper from 1974 with the new info, and how the misunderstanding occurred, with images from the 1901 paper.
Blondin said: I seem to remember something about not being able to taste some things if you hold your nose while eating. I wonder if some wine glasses are better at directing the contents' bouquet than others, thereby making you think you are tasting a difference.
Yes, I remember something about this, too. And specifically that if you couldn't smell them, then raw apple, raw potato and raw onion actually all taste the same.
Posted by Smerk in to mischief on Mon Feb 27, 2006 at 06:46 PM
Yes, I remember something about this, too. And specifically that if you couldn't smell them, then raw apple, raw potato and raw onion actually all taste the same.
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