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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Of course u need yr sense of smell to taste food. Have u guys never had a cold? When all food seems a bit tasteless. http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/your_sense_of_taste/
I was also taught that we had different taste receptors around our tongues.
Posted by Merve on Mon Feb 27, 2006 at 10:27 PM
I was also taught that we had different taste receptors around our tongues.
Thanks for posting this, Alex. I had no idea this was disproved. They're still teaching it in schools--my daughter was learning about this just last year. So, keep up the good fight against ignorance and misinformation!
Posted by aka_donna on Tue Feb 28, 2006 at 11:38 AM
Aww man! I remember being taught that in school, too! I never realized I was being hoaxed all this time!
And it ruins one of my favorite jokes too, the one about the cheerleader in biology class who wants to know why semen doesn't taste sweet.
The thing about smell being linked to taste is quite true. That old brain teaser, "If you had to pick one sense to lose, which would you pick?" is a loaded question for that very reason. Most people will pick Smell to lose, reasoning that smell is the sense they rely on the least--not realizing that it's a raw deal, since you would lose about half your sense of Taste along with it.
If you don't believe it, here's an experiment to try: the next time you eat roast beef, hold your nose. The savory flavor of roast beef relies almost entirely on aroma--without the smell, you can hardly detect any flavor at all, just the mass and texture of the meat on your tongue. Honest, it works, try it.
Posted by Barghest on Wed Mar 01, 2006 at 01:59 AM
And it ruins one of my favorite jokes too, the one about the cheerleader in biology class who wants to know why semen doesn't taste sweet.
The thing about smell being linked to taste is quite true. That old brain teaser, "If you had to pick one sense to lose, which would you pick?" is a loaded question for that very reason. Most people will pick Smell to lose, reasoning that smell is the sense they rely on the least--not realizing that it's a raw deal, since you would lose about half your sense of Taste along with it.
If you don't believe it, here's an experiment to try: the next time you eat roast beef, hold your nose. The savory flavor of roast beef relies almost entirely on aroma--without the smell, you can hardly detect any flavor at all, just the mass and texture of the meat on your tongue. Honest, it works, try it.
tongue maps have some accuracy, however, there are taste buds on all parts of the tongue that will taste all the different ranges or "flavors" so it's not totally true,
as for holding your nose, the sense of smell will enhance the sense of taste but the lack of smell will not completely remove the taste from an object, so certain bland foods may taste similar if eaten while holding your nose.
Posted by jm in us on Fri Mar 03, 2006 at 08:06 AM
as for holding your nose, the sense of smell will enhance the sense of taste but the lack of smell will not completely remove the taste from an object, so certain bland foods may taste similar if eaten while holding your nose.
While the current wisdon is that tastbuds for all tastes are distributed almost evenly over the tongue, it is certainly false that there is no significant variation. Fill your mouth with a citrusy New Zealand sauvignon blanc and tell me where you taste the acid. It is concentrated on the sides of the tongue, and not just a little. Of course, there is pooling of the wine in the lower part of the mouth, so the sides would be bathed in it, but fill your mouth and do this test.
John Starrett
Posted by John Starrett in New Mexico on Sun Sep 10, 2006 at 09:54 AM
John Starrett
We learned about the taste centres in junior high and I was inclined to call "bullshit" then, because it doesn't make sense that the tongue would have evolved that specificity. (Some help Bittrex would be saving kids from poisoning if there "bitter" centre was faulty!) As for the glasses, it's not so much about where it hits the tongue in terms of taste centres I believe, but rather the amount of surface area allowing the wine to "breathe" and the nose to pickup the bouquet; the amount of surface area exposing the wine to warming, etc. A large portion of taste, especially the most subtle aspects people are seeking with wine tasting, is olfactory. It doesn't hurt that your expensive crystal is nicely handwashed, rinsed and dried, so you taste the wine and not the dishwasher detergent as you might do with your water glass.
Posted by westcoastwinefan on Mon Apr 07, 2008 at 04:30 PM
Interesting! I remember being taught about the tongue map when I was in school. I have read abput the the tongue maps from health and science books. Last night when i ate a lollipop it seems to taste different on the right side of the tongue than on the left. However, even if it the above theory is true, that's still a ridiculous argument for a certain shape of wine glass.
Posted by best baked in Algeria on Sat Jul 12, 2008 at 05:37 PM
i don't mean to be a pedant, but "She and other scientists have proved..." needs to be changed to She and other scientists have proven..."
Posted by the27man on Sat Dec 06, 2008 at 08:06 AM
who on earth has a triangle tongue that picture is weird 
heehee but i thought it was true 
nobody knows do you
Posted by dilys in engerland on Sun Sep 20, 2009 at 08:28 AM
heehee but i thought it was true nobody knows do youPage 2 of 2 pages < 1 2