Scientists used to think that basic tastes were perceived in separate areas of the tongue –sweet at the tip, salty at the besides and so on. They now know that this isn’t true –each taste bud is capable of sensing all the basic tastes but reacts differently to each one. Taste may be more acute in one part of the tongue than in another, however, and the sense of taste can vary a great deal from one person to another.
Some people have as many as ten times more taste buds than other people –and thus they have a more acute sense of taste. Research has turned up some other interesting facts about taste and flavor. For example, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever lose your sense of taste stays sharp well into old age. Older people sometimes say that their food doesn’t taste as good as it used to, but this is rarely because the sense of the taste has grown less acute.