What is Gustatory?

picture source: leavingbio.net

The Gustatory system is our sense of taste. We have four types of taste buds (sweet, bitter, salty, and sour). But our perceptions of taste and food experience are beyond the type of taste buds we have on our tongue. The perception of taste comes from intertwining our sense of smell and taste. We combine smell, physical sensation, and oral taste receptors to fully "taste" our foods. When something smells bad- it usually tastes bad, when we have a cold- food taste bland, and some are particularly sensitive to textures of food. I have a friend who hates the soft texture of cheesecake, but loves cheesecake ice-cream. So give all flavors a chance- you may like it in a different format.

But how about my favorite "taste" which is spice. There is no taste bud for "spice" but what explains the sensations we feel after eating spicy food. We all know after we eat something really spicy, like Buffalo Wild Wing's Blazin' Wing Sauce, we get hot, sweaty, our tongues burn, and we quench for cold water. Even though spicy food does not neccesarily mean its temperature "hot", why does our temperature increase?

Here's the two sentence low-down on the physiology behind spice. Capsican- the chemical responsible for spice, triggers our temperature receptors called VR1 receptors that are made to prevent us from consuming something scorching hot and burn ourselves. By triggering the VR1 receptors our brains are tricked into thinking we ate something too hot and our tongue starts to feel like it's burning. So next time your tongue is burning with rage because you requested your thai food to be "extra spicy", just remind yourself that your tongue really isn't burning off, you've only confused your receptors. Just drink a tall glass of cold milk, blow your nose, wipe your tears and you'll be good to go.