Dr. Maffei’s presentation came at a timely point in my life, as I have just started learning how to cook earlier this year. As such, my eating habits have been changing recently, and will continue to change as I transition to living on my own this coming year. Growing up I was an extremely picky eater, but that rapidly changed through middle school and beyond. Currently I am willing to try just about any food, and regularly enjoy all types of cuisine. Getting to know the scene of this special sense was certainly intriguing to me.

Dr. Maffei covered a few different subjects under the umbrella of the taste process and how we have evolved to utilize it. Firstly, we covered the fact that our brains have adapted to crave many foods that may not be considered “healthy” (i.e. salt, fats, sugar, red meat, etc.). Many of these foods can cause a variety of health issues for modern populations. This is due to the fact that these foods are full of energy and resources that were often rare and costly for our ancient, and even non-so-ancient, ancestors. This is fascinating to me, and I truly wonder if humanity’s unprecedented rapid expansion may have been an unfortunate thing for us as a species and for the earth. Perhaps if we gradually acquired access to greater resources, foods, and commodities we would not be much better adapted to these (and to modern society and technology in general (i.e. computers and smart technology’s impact on mental health)). Nevertheless, as it stands it can be quite a chore to eat consistently healthy.

Another amazing fact about the sense of taste is how connected it is to the amygdala. I had no idea that it is essentially the only one of the senses that is directly connected to this emotional center. No wonder food and the enjoyment of food is such an “experience” all on its own for humans, and that it is so deeply tied to emotions and memories. This is also of extreme survival importance, as it is what helps creatures form associations between certain foods and positive/negative health experiences/outcomes. Over time this impacts our specific “tastes” and what specific foods we like or dislike. I would love to see more research on how human-specific “tastes” develop and differ between individuals and why. As previously mentioned, I myself am open to trying almost any food, but my significant other is very picky. Learning more about how and why this is the case would be interesting to say the least.