Taste: Genetics of

When any two people taste a food, even simple ones, they will not have the same sensory experience. And the perceptual differences between them will only grow with the complexity of the food they sample, such as with a full course meal served with wine. Biologists, philosophers, and psychologists have discussed this idea related to different species, stating that each must live in its own unique sensory world. And while the differences among humans may be more subtle than among species, the parallel seems clear that each human occupies a different perceptual and chemosensory world as well. Just as “color blind” people live in differently colored worlds than those who have full trichromatic color vision, so too do people live in different taste (and smell) ...