杏吧原创

IF YOU don鈥檛 understand the appeal of Chinese food, maybe you鈥檙e not
experiencing the whole taste of it. Most people can taste all the basic flavours
of salty, sweet, bitter, sour and umami鈥攖he taste of monosodium glutamate
that is found in a lot of Far Eastern cooking. But researchers at the Laboratory
of Sensory Neurobiology in Paris have found that some people鈥檚 genetic make-up
gives them a defect in their taste receptors for umami (Chemical Senses, vol 27,
p 105). 鈥淭here are many people who can鈥檛 taste glutamate and don鈥檛 know. They
just think it tastes salty,鈥� says lead researcher Annick Faurion. The problem
affects at least 3 per cent of people, she says. Only one other taste deficiency
has been found in people鈥攆or the bitter chemical phenylthiocarbamide.